5 Years of Engaging India @ Almedalen
Climate action is not an individualistic pursuit, but demands a collaborative approach from countries globally to combine their strengths and knowledge for meaningful action. Recognizing this need for collaboration across borders, Engaging India at Almedalen, celebrating it's 5th year, brings together Swedish and Indian industries to build connections and co-create solutions for mutual pathways and innovative solutions to tackling climate challenges. Accordingly, the theme for Engaging India at Almedalen this year is Samband for Climate. Borrowing from the Hindi word 'Sambandh' and Swedish word 'Samband' meaning connections, it aims to take forward past conversations to create a more collaborative, sustainable future.
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Excerpts from Engaging India at Almedalen 2024
India-Sweden Samband for Climate
Interview with
H.E. Tanmaya Lal,
Ambassador of India to Sweden and Latvia
On the sidelines of the 5th edition of ‘Engaging India at Almedalen’, H.E. Ambassador Tanmaya Lal shares his thoughts about India and Sweden’s growing engagements and expanding cooperation on climate action through initiatives such as LeadIT. In the interview with Rupali Mehra, Co-lead of Engaging India, Ambassador Lal highlights India's global significance and its role as a key voice at the international arena. Watch the interview here.
Watch full seminar
Who spoke at Engaging India @ Almedalen 2024?
H.E. Tanmaya Lal
Ambassador of India to Sweden and Latvia
H.E. Tanmaya Lal is the Ambassador of India to Sweden and Latvia. He has served as an Indian diplomat for more than three decades. His previous two assignments were as High Commissioner to Mauritius and as Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the UN at Permanent Mission of India, New York. His portfolio has included the Climate Change negotiations at the UNFCCC and Agenda 2030, among others.
H.E. Jan Thesleff
Ambassador of Sweden to India
H.E. Jan Thesleff is the Ambassador of Sweden to India. Since 2006, he has served as the Ambassador of Sweden in countries including the KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen, Tunisia, Libya, UAE, and Egypt. H.E. Jan Thesleff has also held the position of Commissioner General at Expo2020 in Dubai.
Meher Pudumjee
Chairperson,
Thermax Ltd
Meher Pudumjee is the Chairperson of Thermax Ltd., an engineering company that focuses on providing sustainable energy and environmental solutions across its 29 international offices. She is a recipient of the Young Global Leader award, 2006 by the World Economic Forum & CEO of the Year, 2009 by Business Standard. She is on the Board of ‘Teach For India’, and Chairs the Board of Akanksha Foundation and also on the Board of Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation that works to support India's developmental and energy security objectives.
Daniel Westlén
State Secretary to the Minister of Climate & Environment,
Ministry of Climate & Enterprise
Daniel Westlén is the State Secretary of the Ministry for Climate and the Environment at the Ministry of Climate and Enterprise. Prior to this, he was the Secretariat of the Liberal Party. He has also served as the Council Member of the Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers for 12 years.
Amarendu Prakash
Chairman,
Steel Authority of India
Amarendu Prakash is the Chairman of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). With over 30 years of experience in the company, Amarendu Prakash has had a significant impact in improving the business processes and project implementations. Prior to becoming Chairman, Amarendu served as the Director in Charge of the Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) at SAIL.
Mayank Singhal
Vice Chairman & MD,
PI Industries
Mayank Singhal is the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of PI Industries, an Indian agri-sciences company with businesses in 30 countries. He is recognised as Asia’s Most Promising Business Leader by the Economic Times in 2021-22. He has been nominated by the Government of India’s Department of Science and Technology, as a member of the Governing Board of the Indo-US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF) and is on the Advisory Board of the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability.
Owe Ronström
Professor Emeritus, Uppsala University
Owe Ronström is a Professor Emeritus at Uppsala University and has advised Engaging India at Almedalen since its inception. Prof. Ronstöm has written extensively about sustainability, sustainable futures, sustainable destination development, and multiculture and has over 100 publications to his credit. He has also been awarded the title of Rikspelman by the King of Sweden for his contribution to Swedish music.
Viral Thakker
Partner & Leader,
Sustainability & Climate,
Deloitte South Asia
Viral Thakker is the Partner & Leader, Sustainability & Climate at Deloitte South Asia. With over 26 years of consulting experience, Viral supports clients across industries in the public and private sectors to design and drive their ESG strategy and transformation, helping them deliver social impact, transition to net-zero, build responsible value chains, introduce transparent disclosures and reporting, and bring about climate resilience.
Shilpa Sachdeva Bhullar
Head, Legal, Risk & Compliance,
PI Industries
Shilpa Sachdeva Bhullar is the Head of Legal, Risk & Compliance at PI Industries. With two decades of experience as a Corporate Generalist Counsel, her interest lies in environment protection and legal sustainability initiatives.
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Jakob Kiefer,
Executive Board Member,
Spowdi & Former Sweden Ambassador for Sustainable Business
Jakob Kiefer is an Executive Board Member of Spowdi. Previously he was the Global Head of Government Relations & Public Affairs at ABB, and served as a career diplomat, including as EU Foreign Affairs Council Sherpa, Deputy Chief of Mission in China, Ambassador to Chile and Peru and as Sweden’s Ambassador for Sustainable Business. Jakob was also Senior Advisor to the CEO Climate Leaders Alliance of the World Economic Forum.
T.S. Balganesh
President,
GangaGen Biotechnologies &
Independent Director,
PI Industries
T.S. Balganesh is President and Director on the Board of GangaGen Biotechnologies. He also serves as Director on the board of Open Source Pharma India and IKP. He is also the Independent Director at PI Industries. Previously, he served as Managing Director and Member of the Board of AstraZeneca India. Dr. Balganesh has over three decades of experience working in anti-bacterial drug discovery. He has also been awarded an honorary doctoral degree from Uppsala University.
Felipe Sánchez
Head,
Partnerships
LeadIT Secretariat &
Policy Fellow,
SEI
Felipe Sánchez is part of the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) Secretariat and a Policy Fellow at SEI Headquarters – Climate Energy and Society Unit, where his focus lies on the decarbonization of heavy industry. Prior to this, he served as a Senior Policy Adviser in the Strategy Unit of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Raine Isaksson
Associate Professor & Docent,
Uppsala University
Raine Isaksson is Docent and Associate Professor at Uppsala University and Luleå University, with a focus on quality management for sustainable development and sustainable building materials. His research areas include sustainable cement and concrete in Sweden and the use of alternative binders as sustainable building blocks in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Jacob Hallencreutz
CEO,
EPSI Rating Group
Jacob Hallencreutz is the group CEO at EPSI Rating Group, a neutral performance assessments organisation. He is also a Docent at Uppsala University. His research interests include quality management, change management, market research, strategy, and operations.
Oscar Hållén
CEO,
Cemvision
Oscar Hållén is the CEO of Cemvision, that offers an ultra-low carbon alternative to traditional cement. He has served as a Board Member for Boardie AB and Nära AB. Oscar specializes in growth strategies across various industries, including fintech, public affairs, and legal and regulatory sectors, with experience at companies such as Klarna, White & Case LLP, and Microsoft.
Per Östborn
Project Leader,
Gröna Mobilister
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Per Östborn is the Project Leader at Gröna Mobilister, an organisation that nudges sustainable behaviour among motorists. He is also a physicist and presents an epistemic approach to physics.
Gunilla Rosenqvist
Project Leader,
Blue Centre Gotland
Gunilla Rosenqvist is the Project Leader at Blått Centrum Gotland, an institution working towards measures for a better marine environment. Prior to this, she was a Professor of Ethology at Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Dr. Swaminathan Ramanathan
Lecturer and Researcher,
Uppsala University & Director, Deloitte
Swaminathan Ramanathan specialises in knowledge creation at the intersections of academia, industry, research, and policy. He co-leads Engaging India at Almedalen and teaches Sustainability for Business Organisations at Uppsala University. He is also a Director with Deloitte, focusing on Enterprise, Technology & ESG Performance.
Tor Broström
Professor,
Uppsala University
Tor Broström is a Professor at Uppsala University and an active researcher in sustainable energy measures in buildings. He has written extensively on climate and energy efficiency in historic buildings. He is the Scientific Coordinator of the Swedish National R&D Program on Energy Efficiency in Historic Buildings.
Carl-Johan Linér
CEO,
SaltX
Carl-Johan Linér is the CEO of Salt X Technology, a Swedish company that focuses on decarbonizing the heavy-emission industry with their innovative technology. Carl-Johan was the founder of CJ Liner AB. Prior to this, he was the Senior Vice President of ABB and was responsible for the ABB Division Power Products in Ludvika.
Rupali Mehra
Founder, Content People & CMO, Spowdi
Rupali Mehra is the Founder of Content People AB, a strategic communications company. She is also the Chief Marketing Officer and Asia Head of Spowdi, a Swedish green-tech company. She has 25 years of experience in communications in India and Sweden. Rupali co-leads Engaging India at Almedalen.
Conversations so far at Engaging India @Almedalen
Engaging India was started in 2019 during Almedalen Week as a multi-disciplinary platform for thought-leaders, academia, governments & industries to engage, exchange, and collaborate on ideas of development, innovation, and knowledge sharing.
Now celebrating 5 years, Engaging India at Almedalen is an annual seminar held as part of the official
Almedalen Week, with a focus on how collaboration between Swedish and Indian innovation ecosystems can
foster new approaches, frameworks and solutions for sustainability that is available for everyone.
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Engaging India at Almedalen seminars have shown the potential of collaboration between Sweden and India.
There are already successful examples of this. We look forward take these collaborations forward to explore
co-creation opportunities, especially towards climate action. Click below to know more about the previous themes and topics discussed at Engaging India at Almedalen.