Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Green cover planned at nuclear power stations in Surat

To develop green belt near its nuclear power plants, NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India) is going to implement an environment stewardship programme (ESP), with the help of various NGOs. The module will also be followed at the Kakrapar atomic power station (KAPS), with the help of NGOs Nature Club and Prayas. The motto of the programme is to foster green cover surrounding the power plant and create awareness amongst people.

ESP will focus on the scientific study of bio-diversity, particularly avifauna (birds), within and around exclusion zones (EZs) of Indian nuclear power... Read more..

Projects in forest areas to face more hurdles

Environment clearance for development projects is set to meet another hurdle with an MoEF panel, led by former member secretary of Central Pollution Control Board ( CPCB) B Sengupta, tightening its noose around the easy go-ahead for the projects.

Based on deliberations in four meetings and analysing over 200 environmental clearance (EC) letters issued to various sectors by MoEF and State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), the committee has formulated a criteria to categorize non-compliance of EC conditions as 'serious' and 'not so serious'.

Mining projects in... Read more..

Official: ambitious renewable energy policy on the anvil

Tamil Nadu will soon come out with a renewable energy policy that will feature ambitious targets and several innovative features, M. Velmurugan, Executive Chairman, Tamil Nadu Industrial Guidance Bureau, said on Thursday.

Addressing an Italian business mission, which is scouting for partnerships on sustainable urban infrastructure and energy, he said that the State, which had an installed capacity of 17000 MW, was looking to significantly scale up the share of renewable energy in its energy grid.

The event co-hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Indo-... Read more..

Global carbon dioxide at level records

THE global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide has jumped by the biggest amount on record, the US Department of Energy has calculated, a sign of how feeble the world's efforts are at slowing man-made global warming.

The new figures for 2010 mean that levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago.

"The more we talk about the need to control emissions, the more they are growing," said John Reilly, co-director of MIT's Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.

The world pumped about... Read more..

Chinese co to invest Rs 2500 cr in Green Energy in India, bilateral trade to touch $100 mn

A notable Chinese firm operating in India, TBEA Energy (India) Private Ltd has planned to attract a FDI investment amounting to Rs 2500 crore for a Green Energy Project in Gujarat in India.

India is hopeful that its bilateral trade with China would touch would achieve the target of $ 100 billion by 2015.

A MoU was signed here on Thursday between the Gujarat State Government and TBEA Energy (India) Private in presence of the Indian Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma and the visiting Governor of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomus Region in China, Nur Bekri. The Chinese... Read more..

Global food prices may go up to 50%: UNDP report

Adverse environmental factors are expected to drive up world food prices by up to 30-50 per cent in the coming decades, the latest United Nation’s Human Development Report has warned.

Food production must rise to meet the demands of growing populations, but the combined environmental effects of land degradation, water scarcity and climate change will restrict supply, the report says adding that income poverty and malnutrition could worsen if the prices of key staples rise.

The poor spend a large share of their income on staple foods, and to survive, they sacrifice... Read more..

UNDP wants forex trading tax to help poor on climate change

The UN development agency called Wednesday for a tax on foreign exchange trading deals, which are worth hundreds of billions of dollars per day, to help the world's poor deal with the effects of climate change.

"A currency transaction tax has been identified as the most viable of all the sources of innovative financing," UNDP administrator Helen Clarke said as she presented the 21st Human Development Report in Copenhagen.

"The infrastructure to support such a tax is already in place and a tiny levy will generate very substantial resources for development ... just a... Read more..

Energetic meet points outpost-Fukushima second thoughts

 Even as India debates the pros and cons of the Kudankulam nuclear power project, several developed countries have already resolved to scrap their nuclear plants, experts at an energy conclave said on Monday.

Addressing the 14th regional conclave of the Madras Management Association (MMA) and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) on “Energy as a factor of sustainable development”, Friedbert Pfluger, Director, European Centre for Energy and Resource Security, King's College, London, said while each country had the right to decide its course to meet energy demand, India should weigh over... Read more..

MMRDA to set up e-waste facility at Bhiwandi

The MMRDA on Wednesday invited bids from reputed Indian and international players to develop an integrated e-waste processing facility at Mankoli, Bhiwandi, on a Public-Private Partnership module. An experienced company or a joint-venture – capable of setting up and operating such a facility – would be awarded the management of the proposed integrated e-waste processing facility for a period of twenty years.

“While enjoying the growth of electronic industry and celebrating the minute-to-minute innovation in the form of newer and newer range of products, consequent hazards that... Read more..

U.N. aviation body weighs in against EU carbon plan

The United Nations body responsible for civil aviation weighed in against the European Union's emissions trading scheme on Wednesday, increasing pressure on the EU to back down in what threatens to become a serious trade dispute.

After months of rhetoric on both sides, the U.N.'s International Civil Aviation Organization adopted a working paper from the United States, China and two dozen other nations urging the EU not to include non-EU carriers in its plan. The ICAO said the paper had been adopted by "a clear majority," although European countries had expressed strong reservations... Read more..

India solar power costs could fall by 40 percent by 2015

India's solar power costs could fall by more than 40 percent by 2015, allowing the industry to compete against domestic oil and gas firms without the help of state subsidies, the head of Lanco Solar told Reuters on Wednesday.

Solar technology could provide a kilowatt hour of power at about 7 to 8 rupees a unit in the next few years, down from the current 11 to 12 rupees, due to surging global capacity, said Lanco Solar CEO V. Saibaba.

That would enable solar power to become a more viable option to coal, which costs around 2 rupees a unit, in fueling Asia's third largest... Read more..

Environment index: 'India is better than US'

India's poor have shielded rich in presenting the country as one of the best environment-sustainable growth models as compared to rich and emerging economies. The United Nations (UN) human development report presented environment sustainability index, which ranks India better than the United States, even as rural development minister Jairam Ramesh regretted that India and China being hell-bent on adopting the US model of "unsustainable" development.

"The real drivers of unsustainability are in advanced countries and the big elephant moving in that room is the US. It does not want to... Read more..