Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Fiscal sops for off-grid solar projects

To promote solar power for off-grid applications for both thermal as well as photovoltaic, the Government is offering financial support through a combination of 30 per cent subsidy and/or five per cent interest bearing loans for companies in the business.The guideline on off-grid and decentralised solar applications released by the Ministry for New and Renewable Energy here on Wednesday to meet the targets set by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) lays down the funding pattern for such projects.

The funding pattern under the scheme would be in project mode and the... Read more..

India to oppose carbon tax at WTO

India is gearing up to strongly oppose any move by developed countries to impose a carbon tax on developing economies in the next World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting. According to a senior government official, India is preparing to take on the West on this contentious issue, something that he says is bound to be raised by the US and EU in the WTO.

Weaving better alternatives for women displaced by climate change

Swdwmsri Narzary, 19, a nimble weaver, rests her fingers on her loom and gets a faraway look when asked to recall her last few years of struggle dealing with the pressures of climate change. Orphaned at an early age, Swdwmsri lived with her elder brother and his family in Bijni, a rural village in Assam province's Chirang district. But increasingly unpredictable weather conditions - drought one year, incessant and untimely rains the next - made life gradually harder as the family's crops repeatedly failed. With the family on the verge of starvation, Swdwmsri had to drop out of school. Her... Read more..

Global voluntary carbon market tumbled in 2009

"The global voluntary carbon market tumbled last year both in value and in volume, according to a report released on Monday, as the recession and uncertainty about whether the United States would regulate greenhouse gases hurt demand. The value of deals in the global voluntary carbon markets dropped 47 percent to $387 million in 2009, said the report by Ecosystem Marketplace and Bloomberg New Energy Finance."

Governments, Industry Must Accelerate Pace To Meet G8 Goals On CCS, IEA Says

Governments and industry will have to step up the pace if they want to meet the declared goal of large-scale deployment of carbon capture and sequestration for coal-fired power plants by 2020, the International Energy Agency said in a new report. Governments have made financial commitments of some $26 billion that will enable them to launch between 19 and 43 large-scale demonstration projects by 2020. But it will be a challenge to meet the initial goal of launching 20 such projects by the end of this year, the IEA said in a report to be presented to G8 leaders at their summit later this... Read more..

High yield crops keep carbon emissions low

The Green Revolution of the late 20th century increased crop yields worldwide and helped feed an expanding global population. According to a new report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it also has helped keep greenhouse gas emissions at bay. The researchers estimate that since 1961 higher yields per acre have avoided the release of nearly 600 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

'That's about 20 years of fossil fuel burning at present rates,' says study co-author Steven Davis of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology. '... Read more..

Solar energy likely to power world soon

Bothered by diminishing reserves of fossil fuels, experts believed the world will depend heavily on renewable sources of energy to meet the ever-increasing demand for energy. Experts anticipate that by the turn of the century, 90 per cent of the world's electricity requirements will be met by solar energy.
According to statistics, net electricity consumption in the world is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 2.6 per cent till 2025 and at the elevated levels thereafter, entailing that the world rely on renewable sources like solar energy or wind energy.

Green and fair economic growth with more expensive fossil fuels

Why are the international climate negotiations moving so slowly? Because countries have so far been unable to define what global fairness really is, says Thomas Sterner, Professor of Environmental Economics at the University of Gothenburg. Sterner and several other prominent economists including several recipients of the Nobel Prize in Economics spoke at the World Bank conference on development economics in Stockholm recently. Sterner's research shows that it is indeed possible to achieve sustainable economic growth, reduced poverty and an improved climate – if we make fossil fuels more... Read more..

Rio BASIC meet to invite other developing nations

Ahead of the August round of negotiations at Bonn, the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) countries will meet in Rio de Janeiro in late July. This will be the third quarterly meeting of the four countries. It is expected that the other developing countries will be invited to take part in the deliberations. This is a part of the agreement that the four countries agreed to at their May meeting in Cape Town. In a departure from practice, the Rio meeting will have technical segment followed by the high-level ministerial segment. Sources said the technical segment would focus on... Read more..

Breakthrough in International Year of Biodiversity as Governments Give Green Light to New Gold Standard Science Policy Body

History was made, Friday, in the South Korean port city of Busan, when governments gave the green light to an Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The independent platform will in many ways mirror the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which has assisted in catalyzing world-wide understanding and governmental action on global warming. The new body will bridge the gulf between the wealth of scientific knowledge -documenting accelerating declines and degradation of the natural world - and the decisive government action... Read more..

Rio BASIC meet to invite other developing nations

Ahead of the August round of negotiations at Bonn, the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) countries will meet in Rio de Janeiro in late July. This will be the third quarterly meeting of the four countries. It is expected that the other developing countries will be invited to take part in the deliberations. This is a part of the agreement that the four countries agreed to at their May meeting in Cape Town. In a departure from practice, the Rio meeting will have technical segment followed by the high-level ministerial segment. Sources said the technical segment would focus on... Read more..

Melting Himalayan glaciers to have varying impact on river basins

The melting of glaciers in the Himalayas will have varying impact on the waters of the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Yangtze and Yellow rivers, according to a new Dutch research. Scientists believe that the changes to the flow of meltwater due to global warming may have a "severe" impact on food security in some areas. However, they also point out that the people living elsewhere are likely to see an increase in food productivity.