Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Maharashtra water woes: Will Fadnavis discourage sugarcane politics?

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced an ambitious Rs34,500 crore programme to 5 million hectares of additional land in the state under irrigation over the next five years. The announcement came during his reply to an assembly discussion on the drought situation in the state last week.

He also announced plans to achieve this goal. His government intends to shift the focus of state’s irrigation sector from large- and medium-scale dams to village-level water shed management programmes, construction of small check dams and creation of farm ponds among others... Read more..

Date : Dec 15

Source: Live Mint

India Betters China in Climate-change Efforts

China and US are the biggest polluters in the world, with India ranking third, according to the 2015 Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) report.

The CCPI, put out by German Watch and the Climate Action Network, however offers some consolation — India has climbed five spots and is ranked 31st in the CCPI table. “India climbs five places and continues to profit from the very low level of per capita emissions, but overall CO2 emissions have risen constantly over the past five years to about 40 per cent. At the G20 summit, India’s president announced a new programme promoting... Read more..

Date : Dec 15

Source: The Indian Express

Unseasonal rain will not harm crops: agricultural department

Farmers in drought-affected Marathwada who were driven to despair due to deficit rainfall during the 2014 monsoons can now heave a sigh of relief, after the region witnessed unseasonal showers over the last couple of days. Agricultural department officials have informed the Maharashtra government that the unseasonal rain has not ruined crops in the district. On the contrary, the rainfall could help the plantations survive, said authorities in the district agriculture office. The change in weather, however, could result in a marginal rise in vegetable prices.

Parts of the... Read more..

Date : Dec 15

Source: Times of India

Cabinet approves changes to Electricity Act, 2003

The union cabinet on Wednesday approved the various amendments to the Electricity Act, 2003 as per the power ministry's proposed amendment bill. "The amendments will usher in much-needed further reforms in the power sector, promote competition, efficiency in operations and improvement in quality of supply of electricity in the country resulting in capacity addition and ultimate benefit to the consumers," an official release said.

Power Minister Piyush Goyal had said last week at an event here that the amendments would be tabled in the ongoing winter session of Parliament. The... Read more..

Date : Dec 12

Source: India TV News

India: Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor Project

India’s rail network is one of the most densely-used in the world. In 2012-2013, it carried over 8.7 billion passengers and about 1 billion tons of freight. Although rail transportation is more cost-effective and environment-friendly than road, especially for long distances, India’s railway network has seen little new investment.

Despite India’s growing economy and the attendant growth in the freight business, the railways have been losing market share to road transportation because of inadequate infrastructure and poor services, exacerbated by the need to fit freight trains... Read more..

Date : Dec 12

Source: World Bank

India uses coal tax to help fund 21GW of new solar development

The Indian government has today announced the approval of 21GW in new solar development with over US$800 million in government funding made available. The new solar projects will predominantly use Viability Gap Funding (VGF). VGF is available due to India’s ‘polluter pays’ system. Coal companies pay INR50 (US$0.80) per tonne of domestically produced, and imported coal.

These polluter fees are channelled onto the National Clean Energy Fund, operated by the Ministry of Finance, and awarded to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

The national government... Read more..

Date : Dec 12

Source: PV Tech

Trans-Ganga plan will comprise clean, green industries

Launching the trans-Ganga scheme in Kanpur on Thursday, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said the state's first-of-its-kind initiative will house green, non-polluting industries on 350 acres of the total project. Akhilesh, who launched the project on Thursday, also directed authorities for four-laning of the Unnao-Shuklaganj-Kanpur stretch of the highway, with special provisions for cycle tracks along the roads.

Akhilesh also said the project will invite an investment of Rs 10,000 crore and generate employment for nearly 1 lakh people. The CM also said similar industrial... Read more..

Date : Dec 12

Source: Times of India

Boeing aircraft makes first 'green diesel' powered flight

A Boeing aircraft has completed the world's first flight using 'green diesel', a sustainable biofuel made from vegetable oils, waste cooking oil and animal fats. The company powered its ecoDemonstrator 787 flight test airplane on December 2 with a blend of 15% green diesel and 85% petroleum jet fuel in the left engine.

"Green diesel offers a tremendous opportunity to make sustainable aviation biofuel more available and more affordable for our customers," said Julie Felgar, managing director of Environmental Strategy and Integration, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
... Read more..

Date : Dec 12

Source: Times of India

Govt plans to amend national biofuel policy

The government is considering a proposal to facilitate manufacturers of biodiesel to directly sell the fuel to bulk consumers such as railways. New and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal today also informed the Lok Sabha that a bulk of biodiesel produced in the country is exported.

"A proposal is under consideration to amend the provisions of National Policy on Biofuels and the Motor spirit and High Speed Diesel Control Order to facilitate sale of biodiesel by its manufacturers to the bulk consumers like railways," the Minister said in a written reply.

The... Read more..

Date : Dec 12

Source: Business Standard

Cutting carbon a good business opportunity, private sector told

Whatever the global climate agreement reached next year in Paris looks like, the private sector will need to dramatically step up efforts to cut global carbon emissions, negotiators and analysts said at U.N. climate talks in Lima Thursday.

Political leaders including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon and Peru’s President Ollanta Humala urged the private sector to play a bigger role in cutting carbon emissions because it makes good business sense.

Lima is the last major conference before the world is meant to reach agreement... Read more..

Date : Dec 12

Source: Reuters

A Coal Plant That Buries Its Greenhouse Gases

Boundary dam, a power plant in Estevan, Saskatchewan, is the first commercial coal-fired plant to capture carbon dioxide from its emissions, compress the gas, and bury it underground. The plant demonstrates that so-called carbon capture and storage (CCS) can work at a large scale—a crucial achievement given that CCS could play a significant role worldwide in reducing the greenhouse-gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

Right now only two other CCS power-plant projects are under construction, both of them in the United States. That’s because CCS carries a hefty... Read more..

Date : Dec 12

Source: Technology Review

Corporation ropes in citizens to tackle litter

Encouraged by citizen's initiatives to clean up neighbourhoods, the civic body is gearing for a campaign to prevent littering. The programme is expected to kick off with the active participation of NGOs and residents associations in a couple of weeks. "Citizens volunteering to clean streets is a fantastic trend," said a senior corporation official, referring to the December 8 TOI report on Triplicane residents trying to keep their surroundings free of litter and cattle.

"The corporation collects garbage from homes and bins once or twice a day. Within hours of the streets... Read more..

Date : Dec 12

Source: Times of India

Scheme to make scientists adopt villages, promote best farming practices

Following the footsteps of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the agriculture ministry is planning to start a scheme under which all scientists of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will adopt one village each and promote best farming practices and government's policies.

To be called "Mera Gaon… Mera Gaurav" (My Village... My Pride), the programme seeks to imbibe a sense of ownership among the agricultural scientists of the country.

"The programme will be first implemented with the help of ICAR scientists, which will be later extended to students from... Read more..

Date : Dec 12

Source: Business Standard

Solar power can be for India what shale is for the US

The new government has unfurled plans to build 100 gw of solar power by 2022. Here are a few suggestions to execute this grand vision: First, it's time the general perception that solar energy is expensive is removed. India gets 70% more solar radiation than European countries. This means the same solar panels yield 70% more power in India. In addition, peak demand in India coincides for 70-80% of the time during which solar energy is harnessed. This peak demand is mostly met by diesel, which costs almost double that of solar electricity, currently at Rs 6-7 per kWh.

So,... Read more..

Date : Dec 11

Source: Economic Times

India Ducks China Energy Pledge, Plans Renewables Splurge

India, the world’s third-largest polluter, will spend at least $100 billion on climate-related projects but isn’t ready to follow China and the U.S., the top two emitters, in promising to limit its fossil-fuel emissions.

India has been under the spotlight at the United Nations climate meeting in Lima after China became the first large developing country to agree to limit emissions in a pact announced with U.S. President Barack Obama during his visit to that country last month. Obama will go to India in January.

Delegates in Lima are watching for signs India will... Read more..

Date : Dec 11

Source: Bloomberg

Wind energy: is it time for competitive bidding?

In its quarter century of existence, the Indian wind energy industry has always sold power at fixed feed-in tariffs, earlier determined by State governments but now by the respective State electricity regulatory commissions. Price discovery through competitive bidding brings down the cost of power, as has happened in solar. Thus, last year, when Rajasthan wanted to bring in ‘competitive bidding’ the industry was in jitters. It breathed easy only when the government changed post-elections.

But now, by the looks of it, the wind energy industry is not going to be able to shake... Read more..

Date : Dec 11

Source: Business Line- The Hindu

No anti-dumping duty on solar cells to lower power cost

Government's decision of not imposing anti-dumping duty on solar cells would bring down the overall cost of solar power generation by Rs 0.66 per Kwh to Rs 4.86 per Kwh, Parliament was informed today.

The current domestic manufacturing capacity for solar cells is inadequate to meet the current demand and it cannot meet the ambitious expansion plans for solar power in the country, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

She said the absence of anti-dumping proposal would help the development of solar power... Read more..

Date : Dec 11

Source: Business Standard

Will help India down clean energy path: World Bank chief

The World Bank will do everything it can to help India achieve the goal of clean energy to all, President of the international financial institution Jim Young Kim has said. "We're going to do everything we can to help India down a cleaner path," Kim said yesterday.

"If we could build more bus rapid transit systems in India, if we could do many more thousands of kilometres of bus rapid transit systems, that would have a huge impact. They've already gone to natural gas-run buses that are much cleaner," said Kim who visited India early this year and met Narendra Modi in Delhi.... Read more..

Date : Dec 11

Source: My Digital FC

BHEL to set up solar photo-voltaic unit in Maharashtra

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) would set up an integrated solar photo-voltaic manufacturing facility of around 500 MW per annum in Maharashtra, Parliament was informed today.

"BHEL has initiated setting up an integrated solar photo-voltaic (PV) manufacturing facility of around 500 MW per annum in phases in Maharashtra subject to government approval regrading grant of 40 per cent capital subsidy under national Clean Energy Fund, to be completed in three years," Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises G M Siddeshwara said in a written reply to the Lok... Read more..

Date : Dec 11

Source: Economic Times

Watershed conservation can reduce pollution in India: Study

Indian cities like Mumbai, Gurgaon, Rajkot and several others that suffer from water pollution, have the potential to reduce pollution at the source by 10 percent through practices like watershed conservation and river bank restoration, a new study says. The recently released "Urban Water Blueprint" study by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the largest environmental organization in world, provides an in-depth analysis of more than 2,000 watersheds serving 530 cities.

"Agricultural Best Management Practices (ABMP) would be most cost-effective for Mumbai, Bathinda, Hubli-Dharwad,... Read more..

Date : Dec 11

Source: Zee News

India named among moderate-performers on climate change

India has been named as a moderate-performing country in combating climate change with Australia being the worst in this sphere, according to a report released at climate negotiations here. India was ranked 31 in terms of its performance in tackling climate change among the world's top 58 emitters of greenhouse gases.

"India climbs five places and continues to profit from the very low level of per capita emissions, but overall CO2 emissions have risen constantly over the past five years to about 40per cent," said the Climate Change Performance Index 2015 report by Germanwatch... Read more..

Date : Dec 11

Source: Zee News

Lima climate talks: India tells rich nations not to use disasters as tools to make profit

Urging rich nations not to use disasters as tools to make business profit, India on the first day of the high-level segment of the UN climate talks on Tuesday sought them to cooperate to solve the "global problems" of climate change without getting into the "price-tag" of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regime.

Bringing the sentiments of people of most of the developing countries at the UN platform, Indian environment and climate change minister Prakash Javadekar cited past examples where rich nations selflessly collaborated to pull out their poor counterparts from... Read more..

Date : Dec 11

Source: Times of India

Lima climate talks set for record ‘carbon footprint’

The current U.N. climate talks will be the first to neutralize all the greenhouse gas pollution they generate, offset by host country Peru’s protection of forest reserves, organizers say. Now the bad news: The Lima conference is expected to have the biggest carbon footprint of any U.N. climate meeting measured to date.

At more than 50,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, the negotiations’ burden on global warming will be about 1 1/2 times the norm, said Jorge Alvarez, project coordinator for the U.N. Development Program. The venue is one big reason. It had to be built.
... Read more..

Date : Dec 11

Source: Morung Express

A smart water grid in the making

The ambitious water grid project envisaged by the Telangana government to provide potable drinking water to each household in the new State will adopt the light detection and ranging technology.
The government plans to undertake aerial triangulation survey with the help of light aircrafts. The photo geometric technology to be used in the project would enable quicker route mapping and 3D mapping and Geographical Information System (GIS) would come handy for the speedy implementation of the scheme.
The Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, is scheduled to undertake an aerial... Read more..

Date : Dec 10

Source: Hindu

Winds of change at Suzlon, focus on solar energy

After wading through the troubled waters of debt and falling revenues, Suzlon, India's first and the world's fifth largest wind turbine energy maker, is bracing for a leap of faith, on several fronts. From investing in solar energy to repowering of old sites to the second generation of the Tanti family taking charge of different business, the company is reorienting.
Suzlon, the leading Indian player in the wind energy business, is now looking to expand its portfolio by venturing into solar power. "We have to consolidate, achieve more growth and invest in technology so as to bring the... Read more..

Date : Dec 10

Source: Business Standard