By Jagjeet Sareen,
Last month, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed that 2023 was the hottest year on record. Four other organisations that conducted similar analyses independently arrived at the same conclusion. What is cause for deep concern is the margin by which the average global temperature soared, almost breaching the 1.5°C mark, and news reports suggesting that 2024 could be even warmer.
As the unequal effects of climate change become increasingly clear, it is worth reassessing how we talk about climate change — and who we centre in those conversations. Now more than ever before, we need to reorient our focus to include perspectives of those living under $2 per day.
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It is also key, given the urgent nature of the crisis, that the proposed solutions go beyond incremental measures. We need big, bold ideas on multiple fronts. And while this may seem a daunting task, it does not necessitate reinventing the wheel. There are plenty of bold ideas that we can draw inspiration from, including Indian-American academic and business leader CK Prahalad’s The Fortune at the Bottom of The Pyramid. In the 2000s, Prahalad brought a paradigm shift by making a business case for eradicating poverty. If companies focussed on developing products for low-income groups, he proffered, they could break into new market segments and raise revenues while also improving the standard of living for millions of people.
It is now widely accepted that the populations at the bottom of the economic pyramid are also often the most vulnerable to the effects of climate crises. World Bank data, for instance, show that the 74 poorest countries contribute to only one-tenth of global emissions even as they experienced an eight-fold increase in natural disasters over the last decade. Despite this, populations living below the poverty line tend to be underserved and under-represented when it comes to climate solutions. Ask yourself how many slum dwellers, who bear the greatest brunt of our cities’ rising air pollution levels, find it feasible to install air purifiers in their homes. Or how many fishing communities, whose livelihoods are directly impacted by coastal flooding, have access to weather forecasting technology?
If we were to go by Prahalad’s theory, supporting green entrepreneurship and cultivating markets among low-income groups could help us strike a climate fortune at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP).
Such strategies would have to put communities at the centre by sourcing ideas from grassroots actors and assisting them in developing tailored products and services. Climate investors could do this by supporting training in areas such as entrepreneurship, agriculture, or healthcare to help develop livelihood skills. They could also provide resources, mentorship, and market access to boost the entrepreneurial energies of the community members. This includes introducing technologies that align with the communities’ needs and capabilities and providing avenues to elevate their voices in decision-making and advocacy.
Embedding a BOP approach into climate solutions will help shine a light on novel voices that hold tremendous value. A 2022 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recognises the value of indigenous knowledge in building climate resilience. Smallholder farmers and fishers have, for centuries, developed their systems of production around natural weather patterns and cycles. However, this traditional wisdom tends to be cordoned off from large corporations, civil society organisations, and local governments — those with resources to actually convert ideas into actions. Strengthening top-down resource flows will allow communities to bring distinctive viewpoints, skills, and lived experiences to the table, and help develop climate solutions that are inclusive and relevant for those at the grassroots.
Cultivating markets within the BOP segment will not only encourage self-designed innovations, but foster ownership of those ideas and solutions, paving the way to surmount behavioural and political obstacles to decarbonisation. For instance, people living in informal settlements or low-resource settings overwhelmingly rely on solid fuels such as wood or charcoal, which are key causes of indoor air pollution. Experience has shown that a switch to cleaner cooking technologies is not just a matter of income and resources, but also mindset shifts. Entrepreneurs championing such clean products within communities can aid this transition more effectively.
Perhaps most importantly, BOP entrepreneurship will give rise to countless grassroots entrepreneurs, including women, participating as distributors and business owners, as well as micro enterprises at the village level. For instance, following 2009’s Cyclone Aila, women in the Sundarbans started running mangrove nurseries. The loss of 778 km of embankments prompted locals in the Bangladeshi village of Padmapukur to begin collecting the fruits of the keora, a mangrove variety that was washed upriver, and began replanting them. From the extra fruit collected, they made jams and pickles, to be sold for additional income. In an adjoining district, a local initiative helped women undertake mangrove-based shrimp farming. The restoration efforts helped locals rebuild their lives and incomes, as well as strengthen climate resilience in the region.
Such self-starting initiatives allow BOP communities to engage as collaborators rather than beneficiaries. In the longer run, it can help shift policy discourse on social safety nets, which so often tends to prioritise compensation and subsidies over innovation and entrepreneurship. Positioning BOP communities as value creators and solution providers is a powerful way to reimagine developmental finance flows by decentralising the decarbonisation process and restoring faith in the century-old wisdom and resilience of local communities.
The author is principal at Dalberg Advisors and co-leads the firm’s global climate practice.
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of Financial Express Online. Reproducing this content without permission is prohibited.
By Jagjeet Sareen,
Last month, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed that 2023 was the hottest year on record. Four other organisations that conducted similar analyses independently arrived at the same conclusion. What is cause for deep concern is the margin by which the average global temperature soared, almost breaching the 1.5°C mark, and news reports suggesting that 2024 could be even warmer.
As the unequal effects of climate change become increasingly clear, it is worth reassessing how we talk about climate change — and who we centre in those conversations. Now more than ever before, we need to reorient our focus to include perspectives of those living under $2 per day.
It is also key, given the urgent nature of the crisis, that the proposed solutions go beyond incremental measures. We need big, bold ideas on multiple fronts. And while this may seem a daunting task, it does not necessitate reinventing the wheel. There are plenty of bold ideas that we can draw inspiration from, including Indian-American academic and business leader CK Prahalad’s The Fortune at the Bottom of The Pyramid. In the 2000s, Prahalad brought a paradigm shift by making a business case for eradicating poverty. If companies focussed on developing products for low-income groups, he proffered, they could break into new market segments and raise revenues while also improving the standard of living for millions of people.
It is now widely accepted that the populations at the bottom of the economic pyramid are also often the most vulnerable to the effects of climate crises. World Bank data, for instance, show that the 74 poorest countries contribute to only one-tenth of global emissions even as they experienced an eight-fold increase in natural disasters over the last decade. Despite this, populations living below the poverty line tend to be underserved and under-represented when it comes to climate solutions. Ask yourself how many slum dwellers, who bear the greatest brunt of our cities’ rising air pollution levels, find it feasible to install air purifiers in their homes. Or how many fishing communities, whose livelihoods are directly impacted by coastal flooding, have access to weather forecasting technology?
If we were to go by Prahalad’s theory, supporting green entrepreneurship and cultivating markets among low-income groups could help us strike a climate fortune at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP).
Such strategies would have to put communities at the centre by sourcing ideas from grassroots actors and assisting them in developing tailored products and services. Climate investors could do this by supporting training in areas such as entrepreneurship, agriculture, or healthcare to help develop livelihood skills. They could also provide resources, mentorship, and market access to boost the entrepreneurial energies of the community members. This includes introducing technologies that align with the communities’ needs and capabilities and providing avenues to elevate their voices in decision-making and advocacy.
Embedding a BOP approach into climate solutions will help shine a light on novel voices that hold tremendous value. A 2022 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recognises the value of indigenous knowledge in building climate resilience. Smallholder farmers and fishers have, for centuries, developed their systems of production around natural weather patterns and cycles. However, this traditional wisdom tends to be cordoned off from large corporations, civil society organisations, and local governments — those with resources to actually convert ideas into actions. Strengthening top-down resource flows will allow communities to bring distinctive viewpoints, skills, and lived experiences to the table, and help develop climate solutions that are inclusive and relevant for those at the grassroots.
Cultivating markets within the BOP segment will not only encourage self-designed innovations, but foster ownership of those ideas and solutions, paving the way to surmount behavioural and political obstacles to decarbonisation. For instance, people living in informal settlements or low-resource settings overwhelmingly rely on solid fuels such as wood or charcoal, which are key causes of indoor air pollution. Experience has shown that a switch to cleaner cooking technologies is not just a matter of income and resources, but also mindset shifts. Entrepreneurs championing such clean products within communities can aid this transition more effectively.
Perhaps most importantly, BOP entrepreneurship will give rise to countless grassroots entrepreneurs, including women, participating as distributors and business owners, as well as micro enterprises at the village level. For instance, following 2009’s Cyclone Aila, women in the Sundarbans started running mangrove nurseries. The loss of 778 km of embankments prompted locals in the Bangladeshi village of Padmapukur to begin collecting the fruits of the keora, a mangrove variety that was washed upriver, and began replanting them. From the extra fruit collected, they made jams and pickles, to be sold for additional income. In an adjoining district, a local initiative helped women undertake mangrove-based shrimp farming. The restoration efforts helped locals rebuild their lives and incomes, as well as strengthen climate resilience in the region.
Such self-starting initiatives allow BOP communities to engage as collaborators rather than beneficiaries. In the longer run, it can help shift policy discourse on social safety nets, which so often tends to prioritise compensation and subsidies over innovation and entrepreneurship. Positioning BOP communities as value creators and solution providers is a powerful way to reimagine developmental finance flows by decentralising the decarbonisation process and restoring faith in the century-old wisdom and resilience of local communities.
The author is principal at Dalberg Advisors and co-leads the firm’s global climate practice.
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of Financial Express Online. Reproducing this content without permission is prohibited.
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Maruti Suzuki’s net profit in Q4 of FY24 increased by 47.8% to Rs 3,877.8 crore compared to the same quarter in FY23. The company’s revenue from operations also saw a growth, reaching Rs 38,234.9 crore in Q4 of FY24.
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