Climate change is the next century's biggest financial and business opportunity, industrialist Anand Mahindra told the World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering here today. Wondering why climate change is being talked about as a compulsion or burden, the Mahindra Group chairman said, "When we move towards new technologies, we do need governments to nudge us". "We have to keep drumming the message that climate change is in fact the next century's biggest financial and business opportunity," he said during a session on 'Stepping up Climate Action'. Noting that there is going to be a USD 6 trillion business opportunity over the next two decades, he said that when technology changes, just as it did when it moved from the buggy to the car, a whole new ecosystem comes up. "... you can wake up one morning and suddenly somebody tells you there is an entirely new universe of business opportunity. Why on earth are we talking about this as a compulsion or burden? That is the message I want to give wearing the hat I have," Mahindra said. Climate change is among the major topics that have come up for discussions at the WEF summit amid concerns over the US looking to pull out of the Paris climate accord. According to him, all Mahindra Group companies would commit to the Paris agreement. "All of our companies will commit to the science-based targets initiated... It is one way in which every company in the world can find a very quantitative road map in how they are going to contribute in meeting the Paris goals...," he noted. Raising concerns about biggest per capita emitters moving into the background, Mahindra said that is not on. Participating in the session, former US Vice President Al Gore said the world has changed in the last ten years and cited growth of China, India and many other countries. "...actually more than two-third of the global warming pollution is coming from developing countries.
That is not blame shifting at all. It is indeed the developed countries that created this problem. It is a global problem and it must be solved by everyone," he said.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)