Sustainability Outlook Headlines

India Lagging on Channeling Coal Tax for Clean Energy, Solar Lobby Says

The Indian government, which expected to raise 25 billion rupees ($555 million) in its first year from a carbon tax on coal, failed to disclose how it will spend the money, a solar industry group said.

The proceeds from the coal tax, which took effect last July, were meant to fund renewable energy technologies, Anil Lakhina, managing director of the Gurgaon-based Forum for Advancement of Solar Thermal, said today in an e-mail. The government has yet to consult companies on how the fund will be used or its terms, he said.

“The fund needs to be activated at the... Read more..

US firm claims biofuel can be grown genetically

A biotechnology company from Massachusetts has claimed it can produce fuel using the same ingredients that make grass grow. 

Joule Unlimited has made the claim that it can produce a genetically-engineered organism that secretes diesel fuel or ethanol. 

Company executives have said the company can manipulate the organism to produce the renewable fuels on demand simply by using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. 

Joule has said the new process should revolutionise the world's oil and gas industry. 

The company is yet to demonstrate its technology on a... Read more..

We have to create world class institutions with a soul: Mukesh Ambani

Amid the debate over making it mandatory for companies to spend at least 2 per cent of profits on CSR activities, RIL Chairman and India's wealthiest person Mukesh Ambani today suggested improving corporate social responsibility to Continuous Social Business.

"The purpose of any business cannot be only profit. Profit for the shareholders is important. But unless entrepreneurs have a larger purpose and businesses that change lives of millions of people, a sustainable business cannot be created," he said at FICCI's Annual General Meeting here.

"We will have to move from... Read more..

Green light blinks for green cars and gadgets

The environment ministry's budget might have shrunk for all real purposes but Pranab Mukherjee gave a minor financial boost to green cars and other green gadgets. 

The exemption from basic Customs duty and concessional rate of central excise duty was extended to cover imported batteries for electric vehicles. Fuel cell-based cars also got a concessional excise duty of 10% in the Budget. 

Components in hybrid vehicles got a Customs duty waiver and to encourage domestic production of such components the excise rate has also been lowered to 5%. The retrofitting kit to... Read more..

China vows to cut energy, carbon intensity by 16-17 pct by 2015

China aims to cut the amount of energy and carbon dioxide emissions needed for every unit of economic growth by 16 to 17 percent from this year to the end of 2015, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday.

This was the first time a top Chinese leader had spelled out the nation's energy and carbon "intensity" goals for its new five-year development plan.

China is the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from using fossil fuels that is stoking global warming. The goals for 2011-2015 set out by Wen are generally in step with the government's... Read more..

Indian officials to visit Taiwan for solar power cooperation

The head of Taiwan's largest trade delegation to India said Friday that officials from the South Asian country could visit Taiwan within the next two months to further solar power cooperation between the two sides.

Indian officials have expressed keen interest in cooperating with Taiwan in the areas of renewable energy, communications and information technology, Christina Liu, minister of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, told CNA in New Delhi.

Liu made the remark after she and the 90-member Taiwanese delegation ended a five-day tour of India, which... Read more..

BASIC nations eye next climate meeting

The BASIC group of countries -- India, China, Brazil and South Africa -- called for specific issues to be addressed before December's climate conference in Durban, South Africa.

In a statement at the conclusion Sunday of a BASIC meeting in New Delhi on climate change, ministers from the four countries said the agreements made during the Cancun, Mexico climate change conference last December couldn't serve as a substitute to the Bali Road Map.

They were referring to the decisions taken at the 2007 climate change conference in Indonesia and said the plan map should... Read more..

Big push to green technology in automobile sector

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's budget proposals for 2011-12 laid special focus on promoting green and clean technology for the fast-growing Indian automobile sector.

He not only announced tax sops to promote environment-friendly vehicles but also proposed the setting up of a “National Mission for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles.”

“The Indian automobile market is the second fastest market in world and has shown nearly 30 per cent growth this year. World over, substantial investments are being made in the field of hybrid and electric mobility. To provide green... Read more..

Khosla-Backed Sunborne Says India's Budget Ignores the Solar Industry

James Abraham, managing director and chief executive officer of SunBorne Energy Technologies, a solar power developer backed by billionaire Vinod Khosla, said India’s proposed budget for the fiscal year starting April 1 ignores the needs of the solar sector.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the budget today, which will be put to a vote in parliament after it is debated.

Abraham said by e-mail today:

“The Finance Ministry has reduced the import duty on PV cells and modules to zero, but this ignores the needs of the solar industry more widely. In... Read more..

United States: For Alt Energy, India Could Be The Next Big Thing

The market analyst's report Renewable Energy in India: Policy, Investment, Capacity, Growth and Outlook, shows that India could become an increasingly important renewable energy market.

Akhil Sivanandan, Datamonitor Analyst and author of the report, says: "There are several factors that mean India has great potential to become far more reliant on green power.

"There is currently unprecedented power demand in the country due to its continued breakneck economic growth, urbanisation and rapidly improving standards of living. This is of great concern to the Government and... Read more..

China Used Less Energy Per Unit of GDP in 2010

China's efforts to reduce energy consumption per unit of economic output were less successful in 2010 with the reduction far less than achieved in the previous year.

The National Bureau of Statistics said Monday that energy intensity — energy use per unit of gross domestic product — fell 4 percent last year from 2009.

The bureau released the figure in an annual report of economic statistics posted on its website. It said the percentage decline was measured in terms of energy use per 10,000 yuan ($1,520) of GDP, but gave no specific figure.

The report nonetheless... Read more..

Low Carbon 'Green Economy' Vital for Sustainable Development

A transition to a low-carbon "green economy" is crucial for sustainable development, environment ministers from across the world stressed today, concluding the gathering of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The ministers, who have been meeting at the agency's headquarters in Nairobi since Monday, noted that next year's UN Conference on Sustainable Development or "Rio+20" in Brazil will be an opportunity to accelerate a global transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient green economy.

Green economies would be stronger and... Read more..