Sustainability Outlook Headlines

India, China resist calls to back climate pact

India and China are resisting requests to sign up for the Copenhagen Accord for fighting global warming that risks unravelling without clear support from major emitters.

The two have not publicly spelt out if they want to be listed among "associates" of the Accord, announced after a meeting of leaders of emerging economies and the United States during a U.N. summit in Copenhagen in December.

"This point is still under consideration," an Indian official said on Friday. Indian officials said the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat wrote a letter to... Read more..

Carbon management as a supply chain strategy

Suppliers are increasingly expected by some of their global customers to demonstrate greenhouse gas emissions management, awareness and action, in order to maintain business relationships, a Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) report produced by A.T. Kearney shows.

Based on information gathered from 710 suppliers, more companies are requesting that suppliers disclose data via the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Supply Chain program. Of these 710 suppliers disclosing to their customers through the CDP Supply Chain program, 48% were reporting for the first time. The majority (60%) have... Read more..

Controversy mounts in EU over fall-out from biofuel

Fresh controversy is mounting within the European Union over biofuels and their unintended impact on tropical forests and wetlands, documents show.

One leaked document from the EU's executive, the European Commission, suggests biofuel from palm oil might get a boost from new environmental criteria under development.

But another contains a warning from a top official that taking full account of the carbon footprint of biofuels might "kill" an EU industry with annual revenues of around $5 billion.

The European Union aims to get a tenth of... Read more..

Industrialised nations' carbon cut plans 'are pathetic'

Industrialised nations have set "pathetic" targets to reduce carbon emissions, says one of India's senior negotiators at the Copenhagen summit.

One of the summit's requirements was for countries to spell out by 31 January how they would cut emissions.

But industrialised nations had failed to set the "truly ambitious" targets needed, Chandrashekhar Dasgupta said.

Britain's Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the commitments made in Copenhagen were an important step forward.

Fifty-five countries met the deadline set in the Copenhagen Accord to spell out their plans... Read more..

Solar powered energy-harvesting sensor system developed

Scientists at the University of Michigan, US, have developed a 9 cubic millimeter solar-powered sensor system that can harvest energy from its surroundings to operate nearly perpetually.

The U-M system's processor, solar cells, and battery are all contained in its tiny frame, which measures 2.5 by 3.5 by 1 millimeters. It is 1,000 times smaller than comparable commercial counterparts.

The system could enable new biomedical implants as well as home-, building- and bridge-monitoring devices.

It could vastly improve the efficiency and cost of current environmental sensor... Read more..

Kirloskar to install solar pumps in rural Gujarat

Kirloskar Brothers Ltd., one of the largest pump manufacturers and turnkey contractors in India, has bagged an order from Gujarat Water Supply and Sewage Board (GWSSB) to install 10 solar pumping systems in 7 villages in Gujarat.

This patent pending solar pumping system will provide water to yet to be electrified villages in Danta and Amirgarh talukas of Banaskantha district.

The project, which was recently commissioned, replaced hand pumps with 11Wp solar pumps that will provide an output of 5,000 to 10,000 liters of water per day per pumping system to these villages.

India needs more research on climate change: Saran

After a goof-up in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) report on melting of Himalayan glaciers, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change Monday called detailed research in India on the impact of global warming in the country.

"We have evidence that climate change in happening but we need more information. More research should be done so that we have precise information about global warming," said Saran while speaking at a seminar on Impacts of Climate Change on Society.

Saran also lend support to IPCC chairman R.K. Pachauri saying one mistake... Read more..

Ministers should consider new carbon tax, says green committee

The EU's flagship Emissions Trading System is failing to deliver vital green investment after a recession-fuelled collapse in carbon prices, MPs warned in a report out today.

Westminster's environmental audit committee is calling on the Government to consider measures guaranteeing a minimum price for carbon, such as a new carbon tax, to drum up more funds.

Experts want to see carbon prices raised from their current level of 15 euro (£13) a tonne to around 100 euro.

Committee chairman Tim Yeo said: "Emissions trading should be helping us to combat climate change, but at... Read more..

Australian firm strikes $60B coal deal with China

Australian company Resourcehouse Ltd. said Saturday that it has struck a $60 billion, 20-year agreement to supply coal to China Power International Development Ltd., calling it Australia's biggest export contract.

The deal is the latest in a string of major contracts between Chinese firms and Australian resource companies as the Asian nation tries to secure the energy, steel and other materials it needs for its surging economy.

Resourcehouse said it would supply 33 million tons (30 million metric tons) of coal a year to the Chinese company, at a price of about $3 billion a... Read more..

Haryana formulates project for setting up biogas plants

The Haryana government today said it has formulated a Rs85 crore project for setting up 50,000 family size biogas plants.

The plants will generate biogas for cooking and organic manure to be used in fields.

Disclosing this, the state's power and renewable energy minister Mahender Partap Singh said these biogas plants will be set up by financial institutions or companies with their own investment through Clean Development Mechanism within three years.

The cost of the plants would be recovered from the farmers through an one time down payment.

The Haryana... Read more..

US certifies India-IAEA pact

In yet another step towards full implementation of the India-US civil nuclear deal, President Barack Obama has certified that India has placed its nuclear facilities under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.

Obama made the Congressionally-mandated certification in a presidential memorandum to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her to have it inserted in the Federal Register that records all government actions.

Obama’s confirmation that India has agreed to provide the UN nuclear watchdog access to nuclear reactors takes the deal yet another... Read more..

India to have own panel on climate change: Jairam Ramesh

India would soon have its very own panel on climate change, union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh announced on Thursday and added that the country could not depend only on reports from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

"There is a fine line between climate science and climate evangelism. I am all for climate science but not for climate evangelism. I think people misused the IPCC report," Ramesh told a news channel here.

Stressing that the IPCC's weakness was that it didn't do original research and derives assessments from published literature, the... Read more..