Sustainability Outlook Headlines

'India has significant role to play in all major challenges' : Robert Blake

India has a significant role to play in all major global challenges, a top Obama Administration official has said."We think that India has a significant role to play on virtually all of the major challenges that we face in this century, from global economic dislocation to energy security, climate change, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and violent extremism," the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake, said.

In his remarks at the Johns Hopkins University's Model UN Conference, Blake noted that India and the US have followed different path at... Read more..

Climate Change Scientists hit back at sceptics with new global warming

CLIMATE CHANGE experts lashed out at sceptics today with new research they say has revealed the “fingerprint” of man-made global warming.Climate change scientists used a forensic technique called “optimal detection” that gives natural and human factors an equal chance to explain the changes seen in the world's climate.

They covered a wide range of trends affecting land and sea temperature, the saltiness of the oceans, humidity, rainfall, and Arctic sea ice.Also included was evidence of global warming in the Antarctic, which has only recently been blamed on humans.

Scientists... Read more..

India for energy cooperation with Australia, Norway

India is likely to discuss bilateral cooperation in energy sector with Norway and Australia as the foreign ministers of both these nations are on official visits.

The foreign minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre is on an official visit to India from March 1-3 . Støre and the Indian external affairs minister, SM Krishna will co-chair the 4th meeting of India-Norway Joint Commission on 2 March 2010 during which they will discuss the entire gamut of India-Norway bilateral relations. The two Ministers will also hold talks on regional and international issues of mutual interest.

... Read more..

EU-India trade deal 'by Oct'

THE European Union expects to clinch a free trade pact with India by October, the EU's trade chief said on Thursday, as the 27-member trading bloc pushes to secure new markets across Asia.

'The deal should be done by the next summit between the EU and India in October,' EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said in New Delhi following a day of talks with Indian trade minister Anand Sharma.

Mr de Gucht and Mr Sharma 'shared the view' that a deal could be done and 'we will speed up negotiations,' the EU trade official told reporters.

The EU, which sees a free-trade deal... Read more..

Budgeting for green energy

“Coal,” said the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, in his Budget speech, “is the mainstay of India's energy sector and 75 per cent of the power generation is currently coal based.” He then went on to make some announcements which, although necessary by themselves, left the issue of clean energy wandering around like Banquo's ghost. To rid himself of it, perhaps, the Minister said he was setting up a National Clean Energy Fund for funding research and innovative projects in clean energy technologies. Once again he made a series of announcements which did little to banish the ghost. It... Read more..

India Announces Coal Tax To Fund Renewable Energy Projects

In a landmark announcement the Indian Finance Minister, in his annual Budget speech, put forward the proposal of setting of National Clean Energy Fund which would be constituted through tax lieved on coal usage in the country. The quantum of tax would be INR 50 per ton of coal used, which would generate an annual revenue of around $600 million.

The announcement is extremely important and a major step in India’s endeavor to promote renewable energy infrastructure. India is heavily dependent on coal for power generation with 75% of the power generated coming from coal-fired power... Read more..

Jairam suggests new climate team, drops critics from list

Union environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh has dropped Prodipto Ghosh and Chandrashekhar Dasgupta — his most vocal critics — from the suggestive list forwarded to the PM for reconstitution of the core negotiating group on climate change.

The core negotiating group (CNG) is the set of advisers — serving and retired government officials — who advise the government on the international climate change negotiations and the stance and strategies India should take to further its cause at the complex talks.

The minister has forwarded a new suggestive list after dropping the... Read more..

ANALYSIS - Hopes for $2 tln global carbon market fade

Investors are becoming less convinced that a global carbon market, estimated to be worth about $2 trillion by the end of the decade, can be established as uncertainty over global climate policy persists.

The absence of legally binding global climate deal and a federal emissions trading scheme in the United States are standing in the way of the market in global emissions trading growing to achieve yearly turnover of $2 trillion by 2020. 

"There will only be a $2 trillion market if the U.S. gets on board," Trevor Sikorski, head of carbon... Read more..

BHEL targets Rs 50K cr turnover by 2020

Public sector engineering major BHEL is targeting a Rs 50,000-crore turnover by calendar 2020 from its current level of Rs 27,000 crore through a spate of new JVs in related fields as well as a strong order-book position valued at about Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

BHEL may also tie up with foreign partners for a 10,000 tpa poly-silicon manufacturing facility in India as part of its efforts to set up an integrated solar photo-voltaic cell facility in India and acquire poly-silicon manufacturing technology. The integrated facility is slated to come with a capacity to supply equipment capable... Read more..

Green fuels cause more harm than fossil fuels, according to report

Using fossil fuel in vehicles is better for the environment than so-called green fuels made from crops, according to a government study seen by The Times.

The findings show that the Department for Transport’s target for raising the level of biofuel in all fuel sold in Britain will result in millions of acres of forest being logged or burnt down and converted to plantations. The study, likely to force a review of the target, concludes that some of the most commonly-used biofuel crops fail to meet the minimum sustainability standard set by the European Commission.

Under the... Read more..

A not-so-green budget

Costlier SUVs and big cars. Tax cuts for electric vehicles and solar rickshaws. A National Clean Energy Fund. Doubling the money to clean India’s holy Ganga.

Budget 2010 appears to be one of the greenest ever.

But those appearances, experts said, appeared deceptive, with many contradictions, and, as an energy expert put it, “ad hoc tinkering”, like minor excise and other tax cuts on environment-friendly LED lights, specific wind, solar and geothermal-energy components, bio-diesels, batteries for solar-powered rickshaws.

“With these proposals, I hope to see a smile on... Read more..

Renewable energy sector earmarked Rs.380 crore more

India's renewable energy sector budget has been increased by 61 percent to Rs.1,000 crore from Rs.620 crore, signalling the government's commitment to popularising alternate source of energy in the country.

"In pursuance of government's resolve to implement the National Solar Mission, I propose to provide a concessional customs duty of five percent to equipment required for the initial setting up of solar thermal power generating units," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said while presenting the 2010-11 budget in the Lok Sabha Friday.

The central excise duty on LED lights, a... Read more..