Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Treated water for power plants will need Rs 32,000 crore investment

Government's directive to use recycled sewage water by power plants will call for an investment of up to Rs 32,000 crore to meet the requirement of 80 GW capacities of state and central utilities.

"The use of sewage water by central and state power generation companies will alone require an investment of up to Rs 32,000 crore depending upon the distance between sewage treatment plant and the power plant,"... Read more..

MNRE enhances limit of solar subsidy from 400kW to 10 MW

To push for solar rooftop power plants (SPV) in Chandigarh, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has increased the subsidy of 30 per cent for installing solar photovoltaic (SPV) power plants on residential and other private buildings from 400 kilowatt (kW) to 10 mega watt (MW). With this step, the administration aims to generate 100 MW by 2022 and at present is struggling to attract city residents towards solar power.

... Read more..

India's electricity consumption to touch 4 trillion units by 2030

India's electricity consumption will increase four times from about 1.1 trillion units to 4 trillion units by 2030.

"Despite massive roll-out of energy efficient schemes, we still see a possible 10 per cent jump in the electricity growth annually for the next 15 or 16 years," Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said while delivering keynote address at a conference on 'The Future of Electricity' here... Read more..

Government issues draft policy to make small buildings eco-compliant

With a majority of buildings coming up being small in size, the government has come out with a draft notification to make eco-compliance mandatory for such projects.

The smaller projects, with a built-up area of over 5,000 square metres to 20,000 square metres, will have to comply with environmental conditions like installation of natural drainage, water conservation, rainwater harvesting and solid waste... Read more..

India’s Odisha to tender 500MW solar

The Indian state of Odisha has issued request for selections (RfS) for two separate tenders for 450MW and 50MW of solar PV capacity.

The tenders will come as part of the National Solar Mission Phase-II Batch IV.

Odisha also plans to set up solar energy projects in 198 villages as part of India’s rural... Read more..

Pune a step closer to solar deployment

To accelerate the pace of solar deployment in the city, the newly formed Pune Smart City Development Corporation Ltd. ( PSCDCL) has planned to launch the ‘Pune-Maximum Solar City’ initiative as the first step towards facilitating a solar Pune. The PSCDCL, in collaboration with Pune International Centre (PIC) and Prayas Energy Group, organised an awareness programme for citizens and the media.

Pune has been... Read more..

Make all govt buildings energy efficient: Panel

In a bid to ensure efficient use of power, a Parliamentary panel today recommended bringing all government buildings within the purview of energy efficiency norms in a time-bound manner.

The Standing Committee on Energy of Ministry of Power in its report tabled in Parliament today said that "more is required to be done in a time-bound manner so that at least all government buildings may be made energy... Read more..

Chennai-based SolarTown raises early stage funding for rooftop push

Chennai-headquartered SolarTown Energy Solutions Pvt Ltd, which is specialising in the sale, lease and installation of solar rooftop systems for residential, commercial and industrial customers, has claimed to have raised early stage funding from GREX and is also on pace to close its Series A round.

The undisclosed funding is expected to support company’s growth and accelerate its expansion plans, driven by... Read more..

CDP Prepares to Launch Low-Carbon Supply Chain Financing Program

A major piece of managing corporate climate risks involves managing — and improving — suppliers’ environmental sustainability. It also presents a slew of challenges, with financing initiatives to improve the environmental performance of suppliers’ operations being high of the list.

“Companies face a variety business risks as a result of climate change,” said Business for Social Responsibility associate... Read more..

First Impact Report on "Green Bonds - Made by KfW"

Evaluated environmental and social impact exceeds expectations - KfW offers utmost in transparency on its green bonds: Impact Report fulfils all recommendations of the "Harmonized Framework for Impact Reporting"

Today KfW publishes its first report on the environmental and social impact (Impact Report) of "Green Bonds - Made by KfW". With its green bond issuance programme launched in 2014, KfW supports the... Read more..

Closed-Loop System Captures CO2 for Use in Beverage Industry

CO2 Solutions and Mojonnier Limited have teamed up to capture carbon from the beverage bottling processes — thus preventing CO2 emissions — and then supply this CO2 back to the beverage industry for its carbonation needs.

CO2 Solutions has been working to commercialize its enzyme-enabled carbon capture technology for stationary sources of carbon pollution.

... Read more..

Environment Ministry rapped for not using funds fully

The Centre and more specifically the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change is not putting money where its mouth is — literally.

While the Ministry, led by Minister of State (Independent Charge) Prakash Javadekar, has fought for climate justice at international forums and made big targets for curbing climate change, the Ministry’s allocation of funds to, and expenditure of these funds on climate... Read more..