New Delhi, May 11 (KNN)  Environment preservation, conservation and sustainability for future generations is going to come into conflict with development.  The trade-off is inevitable.  However, there is an opportunity, as long as one recognises it, to make money by conserving the environment, said CEO of Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), Arunabha Ghosh.

In conversation with Responsible Business India, Ghosh talked about the business opportunities in renewable energy.

“Can we move from coal to clean coal, from energy consumption to energy efficiency, from water competition to water efficiency, conservation, reuse, recycle and recharge; from poor air quality to superior air quality which improves health, productivity and incomes?  Unless we recognise that environment conservation and sustainability has business/economic logic to it, we will always find that environment and development are in conflict with each other,” he said.

CEEW’s recent report – RE+ published together with WWF is a compendium of renewable energy applications that can be used to address societal needs.  The research was undertaken to identify renewables beyond electricity.

Can businesses learn from those innovations mentioned in the report and apply them across their value chains, so they do good to the communities around them? 
In this interview Ghosh answers this and many other questions.

'Mind Your Business' is a new series of interviews that brings new insights from a wide range of stakeholders including industry leaders, academicians, thinkers, sustainability experts and practitioners by Responsible Business India.