IT IS almost the end of October in Delhi and we are still using airconditioners. About 15 years back we would have been wearing at least full sleeve shirts, if not blazers. Are we doing anything?

There was a joke going around sometime back that the Delhi government wanted to make Delhi a green city so they painted all the auto-rick-shaws and the buses green. Thanks to the Commonwealth Games, the city has actually started to look green, because of trees and not the painted buses. There were plantation drives where at least 50,000 trees were planted across the city on the run-up to the games. We can argue and ask 'was it enough?' I on the other hand would like to take this as a good start.

In a country that is strewn with poverty and bigger problems to deal with, a conscious effort to reduce the carbon footprint of an event of this magnitude is a great step to ensure a cleaner environment for the forth-coming generations.

Even as the government takes some steps, the private sector needs to push itself harder to become more sensitive to the environment. In a recent interview, Manoj Chugh, President India and SAARC, EMC (see the No Holds Barred section for the full interview) made a very interesting point: He said that organisations should think in terms of the number of trees they are saving every year – and that to me is a great measure.

Going back to energy efficient cities – have you ever heard of Masdar? Masdar is a new city being built about 17 km outside Abu Dhabi, in the UAE in West Asia; designed by Foster + Partners, a British architectural firm. The city aims to be the first carbon-neutral city in the world.

Estimated to be built at a cost of close to $20 billion, the city is slated to complete its first phase in 2015. It will be spread across six square km and will house close to 50,000 people. No automobiles will be allowed in the city and people will have to depend on mass transit systems.

Everything in the city starting from water to plastics will be recycled. The biological waste will be converted into fertilizers while the plastics will be recycled to be used in the 1,500 businesses that will be established there. The city plans to power itself with a 60 megawatt solar power plant supported by photovoltaic modules on rooftops producing 130 megawatts, in addition to geothermal energy and a 20 megawatt wind farm. Water will be made available using a solar powered desalination plant and will be reused as many times as possible.

Though this is an ambitious plan it is a great proof of concept that it can be done. Bigger cities such as Delhi and Mumbai can look at the ways in which Masdar is reducing its carbon footprint. The private sector too can learn.

To give things some perspective, there was not even one Indian company in the Top 100 green companies list published by NewsWeek recently. Many of the top companies operate in India and the company at number 99, ArcelorMittal, is controlled by an Indian – but not even one of the companies is from India. It may look like an inconspicuous report – but to me these are alarm bells.

By saying that it is easy to talk green but very expensive to implement, you are just acting like an ostrich with your head in the sand. Your actions today are going to impact the way your children live their lives – hope you want them safe and healthy. If they are not, the argument of lack of IT budgets may seem too hollow.