Sustainability Outlook Headlines

India to invite IAEA team to assist in N-safety

The government has decided to invite an operational safety review team of the IAEA to assist in its own safety reviews and audit, said an official statement after the Cabinet Committee of Security approved the IAEA invitation on Thursday.

The committee, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was briefed on the steps taken since the nuclear incident at Fukushima in Japan in March 2011 and on the steps that were proposed to be taken.

Technical reviews were undertaken in all nuclear power plants focussing on their ability to withstand the impact of large natural disasters... Read more..

JPMorgan Follows UBS Cutting Carbon Jobs as Permits Plunge

Investment banks are cutting traders and analysts in climate-related businesses as a slump in shares and carbon emission permits coincides with a deadlock in international climate talks.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Managing Director for Environmental Markets Odin Knudsen left his post in New York by mutual accord after his team was shrunk, while UBS Securities LLC fired Vice Chairman Jon Anda and his Climate Policy Group co-workers, Anda and Knudsen said in interviews. Ben Lynch left his London job as an alternative-energy analyst for Commerzbank AG (CBK) and it was taken... Read more..

First 50MW Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Plant in India

In cooperation with the Japanese trading company Sojitz, Aalborg CSP decided in spring 2011 to enter the Indian concentrated solar energy market.

With Aalborg CSP's experience in designing and delivering large scale steam generators for the European market and Sojitz Corporation's unique knowledge of the trading industry, combined with their rich experience and great achievements within the Republic of India, the ambition is to become a key player in supplying steam generator solutions for concentrated solar power plants in India.

The Godawari project

In November 2011... Read more..

India decries trade barriers 'disguised' as climate action

The success of future climate change negotiations could be undermined by unilateral policies adopted by rich nations that work as restrictive trade barriers, Indian public officials and environmentalists are warning.

They complain unfair trade rules are being imposed, thinly veiled as climate protection initiatives.

“Of late, unilateral measures have appeared on the international scene that clearly constitute disguised restrictions on international trade,” Jayanthi Natarajan, India’s minister of state for environment and forestry, told a recent gathering in New Delhi... Read more..

Climate change talks tied in knots

Talks at the climate change conference have predictably bogged down over funding and over the insistence of the first world countries that emerging economies like India and China also commit to legally binding and higher reduction of carbon emission.

Countries like Japan, Canada, Russia and New Zealand have decided to back out of the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding treaty that requires 37 developed countries to reduce amount of CO2 they released. The European Union has made it clear that it would agree to more carbon reduction only if emerging economies like China... Read more..

Kolkata bus service set to go green

 The West Bengal government, in partnership with Essar Oil and Indian Oil, may soon run India’s first buses on coal-bed methane, a natural gas extracted from coal beds and, like other gases, considered a better alternative to petrol or diesel.

“We were approached by the West Bengal Pollution Control Board to discuss a proposal to source coal-bed methane gas from the Raniganj block to run State Transport Corporation buses in Kolkata,” said a spokesperson from Essar Oil. “We are in talks with Indian Oil to put in place a franchise agreement that will enable access to their pump... Read more..

India Carbon likely to set up power plant

Asia’s first calcination unit, India Carbon Ltd (ICL), Guwahati that has been into manufacturing and supply of high quality calcined petroleum coke (CPC) is going to complete its 50 years of existence on December 4.

On the occasion of its golden jubilee, the company founded by PD Himatsingka and B Himatsingka has decided to keep the legacy of the founders alive by contributing towards the growth of the State.

Addressing media persons here on Friday, the CMD of the company R Himatsingka said that ICL since its inception has been serving towards the industrialization and... Read more..

UN Climate Envoys Weigh Aid Measures

Envoys at United Nations climate talks are working on measures including aid to developing nations, funds to help adapt to more extreme weather patterns and forest protection, according to a text released today.

The programs are detailed in documents spanning 143 pages, distributed by the UN outlining possible outcomes from a meeting in Durban, South Africa. The text is almost five times as long as the agreements from last year’s meeting in Cancun, and will be streamlined next week when ministers and envoys from more than 190 nations and heads of state from 10 of those... Read more..

Coal-reliant Poland says apt to lead EU at Durban

Coal-reliant Poland can be seen as a developing nation, making it apt to lead EU negotiations at Durban climate talks, where one of the disputes is over the roles of rich versus poor nations, a member of the Polish team said.

Holder of the rotating EU presidency, Poland has been criticized for its environmental stance within the EU, which is seeking to lead the push for a new global pact to curb climate change.

Many have asked whether it is the right country to represent the EU in Durban... Read more..

EU fights global warming in a cold climate

European Union negotiators leading the push to keep U.N. climate talks on track are fighting a sense of despondency as the struggle to save the euro has pushed the one to save the planet down the priority list.

 In the United States, seen as the biggest single obstacle to a new global climate deal, academic opinion says an "iron law" means economics trumps the environment in times of crisis.

"When policies focused on economic growth confront politics focused on emissions reductions, it is economic growth that will win out every time," said Roger Pielke, a professor... Read more..

China may adopt emission limit

China is likely to agree to a quantified target to limit its greenhouse gas emissions after 2020, said a senior expert with a government think tank.

But this depends on the outcome of climate change negotiations and China's level of development by that time, said Xu Huaqing, a researcher from the Energy Research Institute affiliated with the National Development and Reform Commission, the government body that oversees climate change issues in China.

This is the first time that China has mentioned a possible timetable regarding its greenhouse gas emissions.

China... Read more..

Kyoto Protocol and Climate Fund on Shaky Ground

Just a few days into the United Nations climate change negotiations, deep divides on the conference’s key issues have arisen. Serious doubts about the adoption of the Green Climate Fund have cropped up, while a second period of the Kyoto- Protocol looks more and more unlikely.

A number of South American countries, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Nigeria and Venezuela have voiced reservations about signing off on the GCF, stating the need to revisit some of its clauses. The European Union (EU), which continues to stand behind the fund’s draft document, urged... Read more..