Sanjeev Kanchan

Environmental Research & Advocacy Expert , India

Biography:

Sanjeev K. Kanchan is a known environmental consultant and advisor who has contributed in the development of various regulatory tools including Critically Polluted Areas, real time pollution monitoring systems, and new pollution norms for industrial sectors in India. Currently he is a consultant to the International Centre to Sustainable Carbon (ICSC), UK. Prior to this, he has worked in management roles with CEMS manufacturing company and Data analytics & handling and environmental monitoring companies. He has also been associated with Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi for over a decade as an environmentalist and researcher.

With areas of expertise including resource efficiency, pollution monitoring technology, practices and control, life cycle assessment, best technology, policies, regulations and compliance etc., he has closely worked with various government institutions, industries, leading think tanks, educational & research institutions, professionals and civil societies in India and overseas.

Sanjeev is also a published author and journalist. Some of his reputed books include- Grain by Grain, Heat on Power, Into the Furnace, Excreta Matters- Citizens’ Report on the state of India’s Environment, Best Available Techniques for Indian Iron and Steel Sector, CEMS- A Technical Guidance Manual, CEMS and CEQMS implementation in India: Inspection Manual etc. he also writes articles, columns, blogs for various science magazines, research journals and print and online media.

He is a Certified Sustainability Professional and associated with UNEP’s Global Mercury Partnership- coal-combustion (Member), International Centre for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development, Government of India (Expert and External Faculty), PM-ETS Market Oversight Committee- Forest and Env. Dept., Govt. of Gujarat (Member), Sustainability Innovations and Advisories (SIA) Private Limited (Advisor) etc. As an expert and trainer, he has trained hundreds of environmental practitioners across SPCBs, industries and consultants in India.

Short description about presentation:

Real-time monitoring is seen as a future of environmental regulation in India which can catapult the convention system to the global best practices. Given the size, diversity and available infrastructure, adopting a whole new system was a truly a big task which the government initiated nearly 6 years back. The most complicated part of it was to adopt standard practices but make them fit to the local environmental regulation.

CEMS for air quality monitoring and CEQMS for water and Effluent quality monitoring was adopted in major industries. Gradually, it is being pushed in medium scale as well. To maintain the quality of global standard, like the EU, use of certified equipment was allowed. However, to encourage “Make in India” non-certified equipment was permitted but with USEPA-type performance tests during installation. To align with best practices, system of indigenous certification and laboratory empanelment for tests, inspection and certification, was also adopted which is under development.

Phase wise targets were set- starting with maximum installation in industries, ensuring regular operation, maximum data availability, proper maintenance to currently focussed better data quality target. Challenges were many, from selection of technology, to capacity building which are being dealt for large scale industries.

Going ahead, the market is further big, but a new set of challenges are ahead that is price affordability for medium and small-scale industries. Non-affordability is also a challenge in installation of huge number of real-time ambient air quality monitoring stations to cover the large geography of India. A demand for good quality but affordable CEMS, CEQMS and CAAQMS is rising. In addition, demand for portable monitors which are handy to use in inspection and tests are also rising at the same time.

The demand is huge, knowing the coming phase of implementation has many thousands of industries in queue, opening the doors for experts, service providers and technology manufacturers across the globe. Opportunities are huge but solutions need to be affordable, rugged and credible.