05-24 Tomoyo Nonaka and R.K. Pachauri signed an agreement

May 24, 2008,Tokyo.

Our chairperson Ms. Tomoyo Nonaka and general director of TERI, Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri signed a general agreement on the collaboration of two organizations to build the India-Japan partnership platform to achieve sustainable society.

Two organizations advocate sustainable lifestyle and social infrastructure based on clean energy. Cooperating with various stakeholders (governments, municipalities, corporations, NPOs, and citizens) and connecting their different needs and capabilities, TERI and GI will design and implement innovative programs in both Japan and India.

The first joint project is the roll-out of the ‘Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL)’ project in Japan, the project which has already been launched in India by TERI. GI, with the support from TERI Japan, promotes the campaign in Japan.

It is estimated that about 1.6 billion people live without access to electricity in the world. In India, about 400 million people, most of whom are so called BOPs, live without access to electricity.
The LaBL project provides solar lanterns to those people, thereby enabling them to replace kerosene lanterns with environmentally and economically more viable solar lanterns.　The project demonstrates with on-the-ground experience the direction of the society toward low-carbon-emitting, sustainable style of development. It will also empower a community and individuals by improving other aspects of life such as public health, medical service, and education.

GI regards the LaBL project as the essential part of “Gaia Village Platform”, on which India and Japan work together and learn from each other to develop innovative solutions for Gaia and the future generations. GI plans to expand the scope of the Platform and develop other projects including cultural exchange programs for children and environmental education curriculum.