Sciences Po students finalists at GPPN annual conference

Harshad: This year, the GPPN conference theme was proposals that help reduce the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations and territory. In line with this theme, we chose to solve a two-pronged problem that affects a big part of India, and especially the state of Punjab in the north of the country.

Crop residue burning after the harvest is a big problem in October and November each year in Punjab. This leads to air pollution, which drastically reduces air quality in cities nearby, and New Delhi, the nation’s capital, is one of the most severely affected cities. 

At the same time, more than half of the population in Punjab still cooks using traditional biomass powered cooking stoves called ‘chulhas.’ This leads to Household Air Pollution (HAP), which is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year in India, in addition to other respiratory illnesses which disproportionately affect women who do the cooking.

Our proposal was to implement infrastructure in Punjab to help farmers recover the crop residue, convert it into bioethanol (a green fuel), and supply the local population with modern, efficient cooking stoves which would use this locally generated bioethanol as fuel. This proposal would not only help vulnerable people contribute to combating climate change but would also improve their life and health simultaneously.

Michelle: We believe that our proposal is innovative because it tackles a challenge that is at the intersection of climate change, public health, and gender inequality. In the realm of climate change, it aims to tackle two problems related to air pollution: household air pollution caused by traditional biomass cooking in rural areas, and the pollution caused by the annual burning of crop residue in Punjab. 

To fund the solution, we also aimed to propose an innovative financing mechanism utilizing bilateral carbon finance agreements, similar to Switzerland’s recent agreement with Senegal, and other cross-border carbon credit transfers permitted by the Paris Agreement. 

Lastly, we think what makes our proposal really unique is its degree of partnership with different actors. We realized that implementation and uptake of the solution were the biggest risks, so we recommended working with local NGOs and trusted intermediaries to provide technical assistance to the end users and help them understand the benefits of clean cooking. 

Michelle: I gained even more from this experience than I thought I would. As someone who doesn’t have a background in climate policy, I learned a lot about how to develop a feasible policy proposal while drawing on my previous experiences in finance and social impact consulting. It was also an honor to represent Sciences Po at the conference. It was daunting to pitch in front of over 100 participants, but it was good practice for crafting a compelling pitch and honing my presentation skills. Lastly, it was wonderful to meet students from policy schools all over the world and to hear their unique experiences. Being able to connect with students from Japan, Singapore, Canada, the UK, the US, Germany, and Brazil was super helpful to expand my network globally. 

Harshad: The GPPN conference was an extremely enriching experience where we not only had to come up with a feasible, realistic policy proposal, but also defend it using our presentation skills in front of students and deans from some of the best public policy schools from all over the world. Having no experience in policy making, this was a unique challenge that required me to tap into a whole set of skills and use them simultaneously. 

Learning about the different innovative solutions that other participants came up with was simply exciting. Networking with such a diverse and talented group of fellow students from across the world would not have otherwise been possible. The GPPN conference made it possible.