Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Natural Power to set up 5 MW solar plant in Jaipur

Natural Power, an India focused solar energy firm, is looking at setting up a 5 MW solar farm near Jaipur at a cost of INR 85 crore. The company will finance 70% of the total project cost through a combination of private equity and debt raised from Indian and foreign investors.

Mr Bharat Vasandani company co founder said that “We received approvals from the Rajasthan government a month back. The project will use debt and equity in the ratio of 70:30. Though Indian banks are offering debt at 8%, we are looking to get it sourced from outside India at 6% to 6.5% thereby making the... Read more..

Clean energy to grow into $2.4 trillion industry: WWF

The clean energy technology sector will grow into a $2.4 trillion industry by 2020, becoming the third largest industrial sector after automobiles and electronics, WWF said on Friday.

The clean energy industry, which includes wind energy infrastructure, insulation, solar panels and bio-ethanol treatment production, generated nearly $1 trillion in revenues in 2007, a sum that has already surpassed that of the global pharmaceutical industry, said WWF.

“This is the clean economy growth happening now with only a partial Kyoto protocol international framework supporting clean... Read more..

Jindal Power lines up Rs 65k-cr projects

Naveen Jindal-led Jindal Power today said it will invest Rs 65,000 crore in new power projects and part of the financing for these would be done through its up to Rs 10,000-crore Initial Public Offer.

The Company, part of JSPL group, would create fresh thermal capacity of over 4,400 mw and hydel capacity of 6,100 mw, with commissioning of projects starting from 2014.

"We need internal finances of Rs 15,000 crore (rpt) crore and the rest would come through debt for financing projects.

"All this IPO money will primarily go to our expansion programme and balance would be... Read more..

Nations seek climate financing for poor countries

European nations pressed former East bloc neighbors Thursday to help create a multibillion-dollar fund for poor countries suffering the most from global warming, while key U.S. senators signaled progress on legislation in line with what President Barack Obama will pledge at the U.N. climate conference next week.

The release of the legislative blueprint was timed to bolster the argument by U.S. delegates in Copenhagen that Washington is taking climate change seriously and that Congress is making progress -- albeit slowly -- on reducing heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

There... Read more..

Start-ups turn global warming challenge into thriving biz opportunity

A clutch of small companies is turning the brouhaha over global warming into a hot business proposition.

Sidhartha Bhimania’s IIT-Delhi incubated EnNatura has developed printing ink from vegetable oil and is washable and entirely bio-degradable.

IIT-Delhi has already replaced the traditional ink with EnNatura’s in all its paperwork, not only saving large sums of money, but also projecting a greener image of the premier engineering institute.

Bhimania is already engaging India Inc to buy his idea. The offset printing industry consumes one million tonnes of petroleum... Read more..

India Clean-Tech Mission a Success: Commerce Official

The Indian energy efficiency market presents enormous potential to create U.S. jobs, asserted a senior level official of the U.S. Department of Commerce here.

Speaking at a clean-technology exports luncheon at California State University East Bay, Ro Khanna, deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Commercial Service in the Department of Commerce, noted that India had last month pledged to generate 20 gigawatts of solar energy by the year 2020.

Khanna co-led an energy efficiency trade mission to India Nov. 16-20 with Rick Wade, deputy chief of staff for Commerce Secretary Gary... Read more..

India to supply low-cost nuclear parts for export

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Ltd. and Westinghouse Electric Co. plan to use India as a low-cost supplier of nuclear parts for export to the U.S. and Europe, executives said Thursday.

"We see India as a very good supply chain for us to supply our world market," said Daniel Roderick, senior vice president at GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, an alliance between General Electric Co. and Japan's Hitachi Ltd. based in Wilmington, N.C.

The decision was driven by cost pressures both companies face as they prepare to build nuclear reactors in India, and it would not have been possible if the... Read more..

Bloomberg Acquires Clean Energy Data Leader New Energy Finance

Bloomberg L.P., the world's most trusted source of data, news, analytic and trading tools for businesses and financial professionals, has acquired New Energy Finance, a global leader in providing news, data and analysis on renewable energy, carbon markets, energy efficiency, biofuels, carbon capture and storage, and nuclear power.

"This acquisition is the next step in Bloomberg's initiative to develop and promote the carbon and clean energy markets," said Peter T. Grauer, chairman of Bloomberg. "Carbon and clean energy issues touch every segment of the global economy, and are of... Read more..

Analyse cost-benefit carefully: World Bank

India will be able to reduce its carbon intensity considerably if it stays the course on its plans to slash its energy deficit and move to more environmentally friendly power alternatives by 2031, but any further cuts will come at a high cost, according to a yet-to-be-released World Bank report.

The report, India: Options for Low Carbon Development, is a synopsis of a study by the World Bank for the Indian government and was due to be unveiled at the climate change talks in the Danish capital of Copenhagen on Wednesday, but its release was cancelled. A copy of the report was... Read more..

Green fund to be proposed at UN climate talks

Four nations will propose a "green fund" on Wednesday to try to break deadlock on ways to raise and manage billions of dollars at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen, delegates said.

Britain, Australia, Mexico and Norway would outline ideas in a document for raising billions of dollars towards 2020 at the December 7-18 talks.

"I can confirm that there will be an initiative from these countries, not on the size of the amount, but about how we see the structure of finance in a new agreement," said Hanne Bjurstroem, head of the Norwegian delegation.

A British official said... Read more..

India seeks green technologies to boost industrial growth

Even as delegates from some 190 countries are grappling to clinch a deal on Uninted Nations' meet on climate change in Copenhagen, India today pressed for transfer of technologies from developed to developing world to accelerate green industrial growth at another UN forum today.

In the national statement made at UNIDO conference in Vienna, India said since manufacturing sector plays a key role in ensuring equitable economic growth, developed countries should transfer effective green technologies to developing countries to boost growth of clean industry.

India believes that... Read more..

India, China likely to get less funds

With the African countries, Bangladesh and other developing countries hiking their demand for the share of the climate fund, it is becoming increasingly clear that countries like India and China will have to depend mostly on funding from private sources.

Bangladesh minister Hasan Mahmud has said that it will demand at least 15 per cent of the climate change adaptation fund since the country is the most vulnerable.

UNFCCC executive secretary Yvo de Boer said the market-based mechanism for financing has worked well for the big countries. “In CDM, 80 per cent of the resources... Read more..