Biocon Foundation, the CSR arm of Biocon Group recently organised a workshop on Cities and Climate Action in association with Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (Shakti) at Biocon Campus in Bengaluru. The workshop aimed to foster discussions on strategies and techniques to establish collaboration among NGOs, corporates, and philanthropies. The goal is to collectively address the challenges posed by climate change to the urban centres which are pivotal to the nation’s economic growth.
The event saw participation from organisations such as Rainmatter Foundation, Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), Wipro, HSBC, Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), World Resources Institute (WRI) India, Janaagraha, Jana Urban Space Foundation, Urban Movement Innovation Fund, LTI Mindtree, and ATE Chandra Foundation.
A critical focus area of the workshop was the role corporates and philanthropies can play to support cities to plan their climate action roadmap. It also discussed the groundwork for establishing a framework that will enable philanthropies to collaborate and scale actions with stakeholders at the city, state, and national levels to:
- Building leadership and unlocking institutional mandates for climate action in cities.
- Constructing and executing ambitious sectoral climate policy, strategy, and action plans.
Together, philanthropic leaders and urban experts recognised the importance of coordinating efforts to support cities plan their climate action roadmap. In the course of the fruitful discussion, a number of valuable ideas have been compiled, which will be evaluated by Biocon Foundation and Shakti. A second convening is proposed in September 2023 to establish a framework that will enable philanthropies to collaborate towards a unified approach to support urban development and growth.