Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Eco-friendly train launched in Gujarat

To make train travel more environment-friendly, a bio diesel train has been launched in Bilimora city of Gujarat.

This is the first bio-diesel train in the western division of Indian Railways. It uses a blended fuel, a mix of 10 percent bio-diesel.

The Railway has already introduced several such trains in other divisions.

Officials claimed that this blended fuel would reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide by a greater extent without affecting the engine.

On Wednesday, P.K. Sharma, Divisional Railway Manager, Mumbai Division, flagged off the train that will... Read more..

DLF bags carbon credits worth Rs 40 crore

DLF group has bagged carbon credits worth Rs 40 crore for reducing emission of greenhouse gasses. The company consumes 150 mw power in its different buildings across the country. Besides this, the company also owns 228 mw of green power capacity wind power turbine installations in states such as Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan , and Tamil Nadu.

“The wind power projects in Gujarat and Karnataka also stand eligible for carbon credit as the same have been already registered with Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as ‘CDM’ projects,” a company official said.

India takes action for Earth Day

As part of its 40th Anniversary, Earth Day is helping organize and support many programs throughout India.

These programs are part of a worldwide effort involving citizens in more than 190 countries around the globe who are taking action for Earth Day to fight climate change and build a global green economy.

Events all over the world range from tree plantings and school greenings to environmental rallies, performances by known artists and community dialogues with elected officials.

More than one billion people are taking action for Earth Day to fight climate change and... Read more..

US chamber plugs for technology partnership with India

The US Chamber of Commerce Tuesday pitched for greater US-India partnership in technology innovation, infrastructure development and production of cleaner energy.

“Let’s collaborate on innovation. Let’s partner on infrastructure. Let’s jointly develop clean, plentiful and diverse supplies of energy and bring efficiencies and productivity,” Thomas J. Donohue said, addressing the US-India Business Council (USIBC) meeting here.

Donohue, who is US Chamber of Commerce president, also said the private sector should lead the collaboration.

It’s time to start writing the next... Read more..

Pakistan joins bid for position of UN climate chief

Pakistan has nominated its candidate Tariq Banuri for the position of the head of United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that will be filled by July when the current UN Climate Chief Yvo de Boer steps down.

The final list of candidates include Christiana Figueres from Costa Rica, Maria Fernanda Espinoza from Ecuador, Vijai Sharma from India, Marthinus van Schalkwyk from South Africa and Janoz Pasztor from Hungary who is also presently heading the Secretary-General's Climate Change Support Team.

A former government official in Pakistan, Banuri is the director of... Read more..

Obama’s climate change talks strategy leaked

President Obama's hardline environmental strategy has been revealed after a document containing the administration's stance on the Copenhagen accord and ‘key messages’ on the issue was leaked.

The month-old document, entitled 'strategic communications objectives', was left on a hotel computer and forwarded to the Guardian, which has reprinted it in its entirety.

It comes on the same day that India's environment minister revealed that a leak of a draft agreement to the same paper on the eve of the Copenhagen summit was partly responsible for the unsatisfactory conclusion to... Read more..

UN climate talks wrap up after fresh rows

Three days of talks aimed at putting a new gloss on UN climate talks ended here late Sunday after new textual trench warfare less than four months after a stormy summit in Copenhagen.Countries wrangled for hours beyond the scheduled close over the work schedule under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and what blueprint to adopt for further negotiations.

"The negotiations were very tense. There is a lot of mistrust," said French chief negotiator Paul Watkinson.

"Some delegates don't seem to have taken onboard what happened in Copenhagen and the need to... Read more..

Won't quit IPCC post even if indicted by UN: Pachauri

Despite ending up with egg on his face, IPCC chief R K Pachauri has continued to emphatically rule out stepping down. In an interview to a news channel, he said he won’t step down even if the UN-constituted review committee finds faults in the procedures followed by the climate panel.

Pachauri said IPCC would make efforts to ensure that its fifth assessment report carries no errors. “Certainly not. But we will certainly implement any constructive recommendations that we get. As matter of fact, I would be responsible for implementing the recommendations. How can I walk away from that... Read more..

US issues draft on climate change actions

This document, also called the U S Climate Action Report 2010, is a requirement for all Annex I Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The United States released previous Climate Action Reports in 1994, 1997, 2002, and 2006.

The draft Fifth Climate Action Report provides a detailed summary of U S actions to address climate change.

This report contains descriptions of specific measures and actions, outlines of broad policy initiatives, and descriptions of activities conducted by the U S since the previous report in 2006, principally at the... Read more..

Closing in on a Carbon-Based Solar Cell

To make large sheets of carbon available for light collection, Indiana University Bloomington chemists have devised an unusual solution -- attach what amounts to a 3-D bramble patch to each side of the carbon sheet. Using that method, the scientists say they were able to dissolve sheets containing as many as 168 carbon atoms, a first.

"Our interest stems from wanting to find an alternative, readily available material that can efficiently absorb sunlight," said chemist Liang-shi Li, who led the research. "At the moment the most common materials for absorbing light in solar cells are... Read more..

Maharashtra has potential to generate 2.14 lakh MW renewable energy

Maharashtra has the potential to generate 57,000-2.14 lakh megawatts of energy through renewable sources, a report said.

"The energy generation capacity of Maharashtra through renewable energy sources is estimated between 57,000 MW to 2.14 lakh MW," a Clean Energy Action Plan Report submitted by Pune-based NGO, The World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE) to the government of Maharashtra, said.

This includes wind, solar and bio-energy sources, depending on land availability, it said.

"The action report provides sectoral analysis covering the status, prospects and... Read more..

India's Essar Energy plans £1.6bn London float

Essar, the second biggest group in both India's energy and oil and gas sectors, unveiled plans to list in London despite a growing backlash from British businesses about the UK's increasingly difficult regulatory and tax environment.

In January this year London lost out to Hong Kong on the $2.2bn listing of Rusal, the aluminium group controlled by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

Essar Group, the Indian conglomerate owned by billionaire brothers Ravi and Shashi Ruia, will sell a 20pc to 25pc stake in Essar Energy in the largest ever overseas IPO by an Indian business.

... Read more..