Sustainability Outlook Headlines

IREDA pays dividend to Farooq Abdullah

The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) has paid a dividend of Rs 14.54 crore to the Government for the financial year 2009-10.

The cheque for the amount was presented by IREDA Chairman and Managing Director Debashish Majumdar to Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah here yesterday.

The dividend payment for 2009-10 is higher by 29.24 per cent as compared to the amount paid in the previous year by IREDA, an official press release said.

The release said IREDA had posted an all-time high profit before tax (PBT) of Rs 141.05 crore... Read more..

World needs urgent action to stop species loss: U.N.

The world cannot afford to allow nature's riches to disappear, the United Nations said on Monday at the start of a major meeting to combat losses in animal and plant species that underpin livelihoods and economies.

The United Nations says the world is facing the worst extinction rate since the dinosaurs vanished 65 million years ago, a crisis that needs to be addressed by governments, businesses and communities.

The two-week meeting aims to prompt nations and businesses to take sweeping steps to protect and restore ecosystems such as forests, rivers, coral reefs and the... Read more..

Use shipping lines and get carbon credit points

Companies using India’s coasts to transport goods between domestic ports can soon start claiming carbon credit as shipping ministry, in collaboration with its environment and commerce counterparts, is framing a mechanism to enable firms know how much carbon emission they have prevented and receive the monetary benefits for that.

This is the first time that the government is linking shipping sector with carbon credits. It is one of the measures through which the shipping ministry wants to promote coastal shipping, which accounts for only 6% of the total domestic cargo movement even... Read more..

Mahindra Retail launches its first unique Green Store in Bangalore

Mahindra Retail took on the green hue with the launch of its unique ‘Green’ Mom & Me store in Bangalore. Located at Indiranagar, the well established retail destination, this is the 25th Mom & Me story in the country and the 5th in Bangalore. The store and is spread over an area of 3200 sq ft This Green Mom & Me store uses eco-friendly, recycled and reused construction material. Its environment friendly features the maximum use of natural elements in the store such as  low energy consumption lighting, lead free paints & tiles, doors reconditioned from the existing buildings... Read more..

Climate change: Plant migrates to safer place

A plant which was originally found in warmer regions of Uttar Pradesh has gradually migrated to higher elevations of 1,300 m in Himalaya regions in the last fifty years, indicating the impact of climate change, scientists have said.

"It appears that S. Anthemifolia is responding to the changing climatic conditions and showing an uphill movement pattern. Studies on its habitat requirements and dispersal mechanisms therefore become important," researchers have said as they kept track on its migrating pattern.

Originally, a native of South America and Australia, Soliva... Read more..

Pegasystems India gets carbon positive certification

Pegasystems India, the Indian headquarters and R&D center of Cambridge based Pegasystems, a provider of business process management (BPM) and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, has partnered with Haworth, designer and manufacture of adaptable workspaces to launch the environment sustainability campaign. Under the partnreship, Haworth has awarded a climate positive certificate to Pegasystems India, and with this Pega has become the first company from India to have this certification.

Pegasystems has brought in 'Allways' desking system by Haworth for its Hyderabad... Read more..

ASEAN ministers call for agreement on climate change in Cancun meet

ASEAN environment ministers have reiterated the importance of reaching agreement on climate change issues at the meeting in Cancun, Mexico in November-December this year.

In a joint statement after their meeting in the Bruneian capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, the 10 ASEAN ministers expressed concern over the slow pace of negotiations.

They said many key issues remain unresolved at this late stage.

They stressed that the next Summit should strive for a legally binding agreement, particularly to limit the increase in average global temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius... Read more..

'Mission for clean coal technologies to be announced soon'

In the wake of adverse effects of climate change, the Centre would soon announce a National Mission for Clean Coal (Carbon) Technologies that include development of advanced ultra supercritical technology for thermal power plants, a top official said.

"The National Mission for Clean Coal (Carbon) technologies will be soon announced. It will have several sub-missions like development of advanced ultra supercritical boilers for thermal power plants and carbon capture," principal scientific advisor to government of India, R Chidambaram said.

He was speaking at the Asian Nuclear... Read more..

BBC told to ensure balance on climate change

Climate change sceptics are likely to be given greater prominence in BBC documentaries and news bulletins following new editorial guidelines that call for impartiality in the corporation’s science coverage.

The BBC has been repeatedly accused of bias in its reporting of climate change issues.

Last year one of its reporters, Paul Hudson, was criticised for not reporting on some of the highly controversial “Climategate” leaked emails from the University of East Anglia, even though he had been in possession of them for some time.
Climate change sceptics have also accused... Read more..

Time to find a second Earth: WWF

Carbon pollution and over-use of Earth's natural resources have become so critical that, on current trends, we will need a second planet to meet our needs by 2030, WWF said on Wednesday.

In 2007, Earth's 6.8 billion humans were living 50 percent beyond the planet's threshold of sustainability, according to its report, issued ahead of a UN biodiversity conference.

"Even with modest UN projections for population growth, consumption and climate change, by 2030 humanity will need the capacity of two Earths to absorb CO2 waste and keep up with natural resource consumption," it... Read more..

Japan sees China, India backsliding on climate

China and India are deviating from an accord they took part in last December to fight global warming, slowing the progress of U.N. climate talks, a key delegate from the Japanese government said on Wednesday.

Jun Arima, Deputy Director-General for Environmental Affairs at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, added that the backtracking undermined Japan's willingness to contribute funds that developing countries are seeking to mitigate the impact of cutting greenhouse gas emissions on their economies.

Facing the risk of a deadlock in U.N. talks, Japan will keep... Read more..

World Bank Pressured over Record Fossil Fuels Lending

With new figures showing a record amount of World Bank funding for projects relying on coal power and other fossil fuels, the issue of reforming the institution's energy lending was once again a hot topic at the World Bank and IMF annual meetings, which concluded over the weekend.

The figures, released by the Bank in mid-September, show it lent 3.4 billion dollars to coal projects, or one quarter of all its energy lending. If a transmission project meant to connect coal-powered stations to the grid in India is included, that number rises to about 4.4 billion dollars, according to an... Read more..