Indien: "Green manufacturing" durch wirtschaftliche und soziale Erfordernisse geleitet

Beim "1st Green Manufacturing Summit" erklärte Anand Sharma, Indiens Minister für Handel und Industrie, dass für die "grüne Produktion" der Fokus im wirtschaftlichen Bereich auf umweltfreundlichen, energieeffizienten Technologien liegen müsse. Im Sozialen seien die Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen und die Armutsbekämpfung die Schwerpunkte.

Green manufacturing will be guided by both economic and social imperatives: Anand Sharma

Even as Government and industry maintain keen focus on increasing the manufacturing share of GDP from 15-16% now to 25-26% in the coming years, the efforts will be guided by two imperatives – economic and social. On the economic side, the focus will be on the adoption of eco-friendly, energy efficient technologies. And, on the social front, the accent will be on employment generation and poverty alleviation.

Stating this in his keynote address at the inaugural session of the 1st Green Manufacturing Summit, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi today, Mr Anand Sharma, Minister for Commerce & Industry, Government of India, said the soon-to-be-announced New Manufacturing Policy will catalyse both manufacturing growth and sustainable development in the country.

Stating that the issues underpinning global warming, carbon emissions and sustainable development are global in nature, Mr Sharma said that countries that possess the green technologies should find ways and means to share those with the least developed countries that do not have the resources to adopt them. He said that poverty is one of the key contributors to global warming. Hence, it would be prudent for countries to share green technologies and associated processes to make the world truly sustainable.

Focusing on some of other key areas that influence manufacturing growth, Mr Sharma said it was important that the sector attracted the right kind of talent.
The minister earlier released a report on 'Green Manufacturing: Energy, Products and Processes', prepared by CII and Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Promoting green manufacturing on a wide scale would call for a systems approach. Stating this, Prof. Ing Hans-Jorg Bullinger, President, Fraunhofer, Germany, said that the motivation for the introduction of resource-efficient manufacturing is likely to come from the fact that high energy-intensity in manufacturing will not be sustainable in the foreseeable future. He said that in some manufacturing companies, the cost of electricity is seen to outstrip the cost of tools. This can be addressed with the adoption of green energy and technologies.

Underscoring the fact that green manufacturing also contributes to savings, he said that manufacturing companies should not only look to recycle equipment but also recondition them to obtain greater savings.

He observed that green manufacturing should not be confined to the manufacturing stage alone but should extend to the life of the product. Companies should therefore invest on both fronts, he said.

Mr Hari Bhartia, President, CII, said that manufacturing growth is central to the economy’s sustained growth and added that all key constraints such as physical infrastructure bottlenecks, high transaction costs, archaic labour laws, cascading taxes, etc., should be addressed.

He laid particular emphasis on building a larger skilled workforce for the sector and added that green manufacturing will no longer be an agenda for building company reputation but a tool for competitive advantage.

He made a special mention of Mr Sharma's initiatives to increase the Government focus on the manufacturing sector.

Mr Venu Srinivasan, Chairman, CII National Manufacturing Council, said that energy intensity is high in many Indian manufacturing units. Looking into the future, he said that green costing will need to be focused upon and observed that supply chains that do not factor the energy intensity and other green imperatives will lose relevance in time.

Providing an overview of the CII-BCG report, Mr Arindam Bhattacharyya, Managing Director, Boston Consulting Group, said that green technology is no longer a "necessary evil but mainstream". There are economic benefits to be had from the adoption of green technologies, he said.

He pointed out that customers are also showing a greater preference for green products and added that the cost of carbon will progressively increase in India. He said that green manufacturing should be adopted as a core business strategy. Waste management is another key area that will generate significant savings for manufacturing companies.

Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII said in his opening remarks that CII has maintained a keen focus on manufacturing growth over the last two and a half decades and that green manufacturing has received focused industry attention over the last two years. It was this focused approach that paved the way for this 1st Green Manufacturing Summit.