Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Earth is running out of groundwater Study

pbr
Human activity is leading to the rapid draining of about one third of the planet39s largest underground water reserves and it is unclear how much fluid remains in them two new studies have foundp

pConsequently huge sections of the population are using up groundwater without knowing when it will run out researchers said in findings that will appear in the journal Water Resources Research and were posted online on Tuesdayp

pquotAvailable physical and chemical measurements are simply insufficientquot University of California Irvine professor and principal investigator... Read more..

Google starts to visualise the future of cities

pGoogle has announced a new venture called Sidewalk Labs a smart cities project that it hopes will reinvent the urban spaces we live and work withinp

pThe tech giant will be running the initiative alongside former CEO of Bloomberg and New York City39s deputy mayor for economic development and rebuilding Dan Doctoroff Sidewalk Labs will be run out of New York with the aim of developing technology quotat the intersection of the physical and digital worlds with a focus on improving city life for residents businesses and governmentsquotp

pThe press release announcing the launch... Read more..

India grappling with ewaste issue Prakash Javadekar

pPeople changing mobile phone handsets every few months these days is creating a big problem for the environment ministry The country is facing the issue of ewaste with 30 crore mobile handsets getting dumped every yearp

pUnion Minister for Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar revealed the staggering figure during a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday He informed that his ministry was contemplating bringing in a new set of rules to combat this menace and has already come out with guidelines for the buyback of such handsetsp

pJavadekar said solid waste management is... Read more..

MNRE to review implementation of outcome of REINVEST at 4th Zonal Review Meeting

pMNRE has announced that it will conduct 4th Zonal Meetingnbspon 12th June 2015 in Bhopal to review the implementation of outcome of REINVEST 2015 covering states of Madhya Pradesh amp Chhattisgarh that took place on 1517 February 2015 at New Delhip

pDuring REINVEST 387 investors project developers companies PSUs had submitted ldquoGreen Energy Commitmentrdquo letters to the Government to develop and set up RE projects aggregating to more than 272 GW in the next 5 years Similarly 30 major Banks and Financial Institutions have given commitments to finance bankable projects in... Read more..

Morgan Stanley Closes Issuance of Inaugural 500 Million Green Bond

pMorgan Stanley has announced that it closed on the issuance of a 500 million green bond its first green bond as part of the companyrsquos strategy to advance marketbased solutions to social and environmental challengesp

pFunds equal to the net proceeds of Morgan Stanleyrsquos green bond will be allocated to various renewable energy and energy efficiency projects Much of these funds will correspond with investments in existing and future thirdparty renewable energy projects primarily wind farms including Route 66 Wind a 150 MW wind farm under construction in Texas and Rattlesnake... Read more..

Indian Railways joins national carbon cutting programme

pIn perhaps the proudest moment for me as a professional the Indian Railways has passed a resolution to formally join the India Greenhouse Gas programme nbspp

pAs a boy I have fond memories of travelling by train and discovering the countryside around mep

pNow I know that very child every citizen of this country can be more confident that his or her journey is helping to create a more healthy and secure future for the countryp

pThe railways consume an enormous amount of energyp

pIn 2013 alone the Indian Railways consumed more than 175 billion KWh of electricity... Read more..

13000MW of solar parks planned by this year end

pThe Ministry of New and Renewable Energy MNRE has got green signal from the Prime Minister Office PMO for setting up 13000 MW of solar parks across 20 states by the end of this year The projects will be executed by Solar Energy Corporation of India SECIp

pMNRE had already started preliminary research on these projects For ten parks the detailed project reports DPR and funds have already been released According to a senior MNRE official this will help states achieve their targets to be a part of the 1 lakh MW solar power network by 2022p

pMadhya Pradesh will build two 750MW... Read more..

CA World Leader in Organic Cotton Use

pCampA is leading the 2014 Textile Exchange39s Organic Cotton ranking of quotTop 10 Users by Volumequot The results were published last week in the latest Organic Cotton Market Report CampA has used more than 46000 tons of certified organic cotton in the 2014 fiscal year more than any other retailer globally The report also states that CampA came fifth in the quotTop 10 Users by Growthquot categoryp

pquotCampA39s commitment to drive meaningful change in organic cotton is unbrokenquot says Liesl Truscott European amp Farm Engagement Director of Textile Exchange For many years CampA... Read more..

In 31 states wells water is 510m below surface Maharashtra

pThe report of the Central Groundwater Board CGWB said that as many as 31 of the wells analysed in Maharashtra in November 2014 had water levels a good 5 to 10 metres below the surface The levels were between 2 and 5 metres in 44 of the wells surveyed in the staep

pThe checks across the country are carried out in January the premonsoon period of March April and May in August and in Novemberp

pThe report said the groundwater levels have been falling almost across the country except for a few states like Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Karnataka Kerala and Tamil Nadunbspp

pA... Read more..

Railways not to spend a penny more on energy this year despite carrying more passengers and freight Suresh Prabhu

pThe Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has said that the Indian Railways have taken several steps in the last six months towards Energy Conservation and Environment Protection Addressing a Seminar here today on ldquoEnvironmental challenges before Indian Railwaysrdquo Shri Prabhu said that the Railways will not spend a penny more on the energy bill of Rs30000 crores incurred last financial year despite increasing freight and passenger trafficnbspp

pThe Railway Minister said that he has asked all Zonal Railways to conduct energy audit and water audit in efforts to... Read more..

CII launches India specific Green Product Certification UL is the Knowledge Partner

pToday CII has launchednbsplsquoGreenProrsquo Green Product Certification for India As part of this initiative CII has inked an MoU with UL Underwriters Laboratoriesnbspanbspglobal independent safety science company dedicated to promoting safe living and working environmentsbr
UL will be the Knowledge Partner with CII for offering GreenPro Services in the Countryp

plsquoGreenProrsquo adopts a holistic cradle to cradle approach in assessing products that includenbspemdesign raw materials manufacturing process performance during use recycle amp reuse atnbspemthe end of the... Read more..

IFC to invest in Indian RE market

pInternational Finance Corporation IFC the World Bankrsquos financing arm has announced that they wonrsquot be investing in coal projects anymore The power sector investment of IFC will now be directed into the renewable energy and hydropower projectsp

pGaetan Tiberghien principal investment officer said ldquoWe do not finance coal projects any more While natural gas is a difficult sector solar and wind projects can be deployed rapidly to meet the governmentrsquos 24times7 power supply planrdquop

pThe solar and the wind projects of India have received a debt investment of 275... Read more..