Author: changethinker

Born and raised in Mumbai, India with an undergrad degree from Oman and a masters degree from the National University of Singapore. I am an Environmental Professional with a passion for Sustainability, Social Innovation and Governance related issues. A Change Agent in the making who believes that small is beautiful and that impact can be achieved -one soul at a time.

Trump Era Sustainability

The era of defragmentation of the responsible/sustainable/impact/category is here. Solar and Wind are back to being energy access rather than ‘climate’, as net zero was part fiction pedaled as climate aspiration. Nuclear and coal provide the base load power for AI and Data centers, and with increasing energy demand, we will see more of these including American Oil enter the market.

As we return to oil exploration and coal-based power again, there needs to be better ways to ensure the communities have equity in the new (or old?) era of energy. And the sustainability that we have come to recognize since the Paris Accord requires a broader understanding of the issues of the global majority.

The Trump Inauguration Address- Climate Perspective

Notes from the speech – ‘Drill Baby Drill’ is the message from President Trump’s opening address after inauguration.

Big Oil is back, and the Inflation Reduction Act is dead, and the EV mandate is killed. This is the tectonic shift in climate policy from today. A lot of thinking needed to pivot the climate geographies in the Trump Era.

For the sustainability folks, DEI is dead. EVs also get a jolt as ICEV manufacturing makes a comeback in the United States for jobs. Migration is big on the agenda, as Mexico and Panama were at the receiving end of some harsh words.

The Gulf states have the most to cheer, and petroleum jobs will be back on the market again. Decarbonisation is headed for a screeching halt.

US as a superpower is clear with ambitions for Mars. The 27 minutes were clean, a statement of strength and signals a return to great power politics. These are times of a great pivot especially for sustainability professionals who only thought in frameworks. The real ESG, now officially dead where the G was geopolitics. Raw, brute power has no parallels.

The Politics of Carbon

The carbon frameworks’ data mapping impulse is reminiscent of the colonial origins of knowledge extraction. ESG and sustainability data at the organizational scale are blood tests equivalent to the organization’s human health. The stress on climate action is on building a baseline rather than immediate attention on the frontlines of extreme events such as the Kelantan Flooding. The key facet of the post-Paris Climate Action dispensation has been the decoupling of local and regional public health imperatives with climate measures. It has curiously been about risk in the financial sense, and how it impacts corporate value creation. The community element needs to be reinfused and brought back to the conversation. There is an inherent Eurocentric politics that is embedded in the way frameworks are written. The climate frameworks are cleverly wrapped up as politically neutral. Which they are not.

Omani Ascension Day in Bombay

At Balwas Restaurant in Marine Lines

Serendipitously met a bunch of Omanis in a south Bombay restaurant. The lovely gentleman spoke Arabic and served me Gahwa. Such an honor.

A young man studied in the same university my father taught. The conversation taught me about how intertwined Bombay and Muscat are.

A good way to mark the 5th Ascension Day of HM The Sultan.

Beyond DEI

Irrespective of the roll back on DEI and ESG related measures, companies who care for their people will do so, irrespective of the political climate as treating your people who are core to your operations is good for your business.

The wheat from the proverbial chaff is being separated is a good idea. Reporting and impact performance should never be conflated as correlation is not causation.