Earth Day. The day chosen by the US President to call for a global climate summit, gathering 40 heads of state, bringing the wellbeing of planet Earth back in focus. Good news for the Paris Agreement, as without the US, the ambitious targets would not be achievable. The 40 leaders pledged to half greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and parties to this also included China, Russia, Brazil and India.

Earth Day was also the day chosen to launch the new internet presence of “Lead the Green Change”(https://leadthegreenchange.in/) – bringing biodiversity and circular economy themes back into the discussion on economy, and economic growth. Additionally, many more sustainability initiatives were brought to life or highlighted prominently on Earth Day.

For EBTC, Earth Day holds a special place, simply because it embodies all the reasons as to why EBTC exists. It also embodies most areas of strategic commitment which both EU and India have agreed upon and will firm up on during the EU-India Leadership Summit on May 8th, 2021.

This Leadership Summit will further guide EBTC’s activities, dialogues, technology exchanges, and engagements in all things relevant to give justice to Earth Day. We shall spend all our energy on sustainable development - spreading the message and supporting organisations internalise and collaborate to make it happen and create impact. Our efforts will be across the board in water conservation, sustainable innovation, mobility and urbanisation, energy conservation and conservation of the biodiversity.

It is clear that the intended impact will only happen through collective work, through deep and open collaboration, and EBTC’s model of engagement, mirrors exactly that: participative action. We shall keep honing this model, to the benefit of all involved, and we look forward to report on this on next year’s Earth Day, where without a doubt we will have taken one step further towards our common objective of sustainable business and consumption.