Sustainability Outlook Headlines

India Energy Giant Stops Selling Gasoline to Iran

Reliance Industries has since April stopped selling gasoline and gas oil to Iran in an apparent bid to escape sanctions by the US, where it is eyeing an acquisition.

RIL till last year sold mostly gasoline to Iran but has since April this year completely stopped shipments from its twin refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat, sources in the know said.

US is seeking to restrict gasoline supplies from refiners to Iran over its suspected nuclear weapons programme. Some US senators had proposed giving President Barack Obama the authority to impose sanctions against companies supplying... Read more..

India not to follow China on climate commitments

India hopes that the "BASIC" draft it has drawn up along with China, Brazil and South Africa is made part of the negotiations at the climate change summit at Copenhagen next month where the bloc will network to ensure the voice of developing nations does not get drowned out.

Speaking to media at Parliament on Tuesday, Jairam Ramesh, MoS (independent charge), forests and environment, said India was insisting that the Kyoto Protocol could not be dumped as some European nations were suggesting. Any global cap for emissions had to incorporate clear responsibilities for mitigation,... Read more..

India rejects Denmark climate change proposal

India dismissed a draft climate change proposal by Denmark that expects developing economies to peak their greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, media report said.

The draft document was circulated to a few countries ahead of the Dec 7-18 summit in Copenhagen, which is supposed to draw up an agreement for controlling emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases causing global warming.

Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said the Danish draft was "totally unacceptable," a media report said.

"We are never going to take on a peaking year for absolute emissions. This is... Read more..

Sticking points for forest CO2 scheme at Copenhagen

A U.N.-backed scheme that aims to reward developing nations for saving or rehabilitating their forests has made major progress during climate negotiations over the past two years and is likely to advance further at talks in Copenhagen.

But several issues still need to be resolved and will be discussed when negotiators from around the world meet in the Danish capital from next week to try to reach agreement on the outlines of a tougher global climate pact.

Here are some of the sticking points facing the scheme called reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD... Read more..

India’s forest cover rises to over 21%

Continuing the commendable trend of the past decade, India's forest cover increased by 728 sq km during 2005-07 — a marginal rise of 0.03%. Overall, 21.02% of the country's geographical area is now under green cover. In the 10 years, forest cover in the country has increased by 3.31 million hectares, showing an average 0.46% increase every year.

These figures are contained in the State of Forest Report 2009, released by environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday. The biennial report is based on satellite imagery up to 2007.

Ramesh said India's increasing forest cover... Read more..

India should not expect assistance to cut carbon emissions: Shyam Saran

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's Special Envoy on Climate Change, Shyam Saran, on Monday said that India being a major developing country should not expect any technology or any financial assistance from the developed countries to cut carbon emissions.

Addressing a conference on power sector technologies for carbon mitigation in the national capital, Saran said that although developing countries need to be assisted with technology and financial resources, but India being a major developing country should not expect such assistance from the developed countries.

"As far as... Read more..

India Min: To Invest INR1.63 Trillion In Renewable Energy By 2017

India hopes to invest INR1.63 trillion ($35 billion) during 2012-17 in additional power generation capacity from renewable resources, India's minister for renewable energy said Monday.

"Capacity addition of 25,500 megawatts during the 12th Plan (2012-17) will need total investment to the tune of INR1.63 trillion, which is envisaged mainly as private investment," Minister of New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah said in a written reply to the Upper House of Parliament.

India hopes to raise the total installed capacity of renewable power to 22,500 MW by March 2012 and 48,000... Read more..

FEATURE - Sunshine, sewage to power cities of the future

"These are the three giant stomachs of Lille." Amid the hum of machinery and warm odour of putrefying autumn leaves, official Pierre Hirtzberger is explaining how three giant fermenters can convert household food waste, trimmings from parks and gardens and the slops from school and hospital canteens into enough methane gas to power about a third of the buses in the French city.

"The process is exactly the same as in the stomach of a cow," he said, gesturing towards three biodigesters which each hold 20,000 cubic metres of rotting liquefied waste.

Finland lifting investment in Asean biogas sector

Due to the rise of renewable energy in Asean, the Finnish government is stepping up its investment in the region through its Private Energy Marketing Fund (PMF), which uses Thailand as its regional business base.

PMF started operating in Thailand in 2003 by setting up its Thai subsidiary, Thai Biogas Energy Co (TBEC). The company is now Thailand's largest biogas developer, producing more than 80,000 tonnes per day from its four biogas plants. PMF's investment in Thailand is valued at 301 million baht.

PMF holds 75% in TBEC, with the rest held by Al Tayyar Energy (ATE), a... Read more..

India warns against protectionism under a green label

Amid growing pressure from developed countries to accept carbon curbing targets, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday pushed for "an ambitious, substantive and equitable outcome" at the UN summit on climate change but warned developed countries against pursuing "protectionist policies under a green label".

In a strong message barely ten days before the Cophenhagen conference, Manmohan Singh said it was "unfortunate that the global discourse on climate change has become enmeshed with arguments about maintaining economic competitiveness or level playing fields"

"Climate... Read more..

China sets green goal, puts India in a hot spot

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh left for Beijing on Thursday night as China — the world’s biggest carbon emitter — revealed its first energy-efficiency targets ahead of the Copenhagen climate summit on December 7.

Ramesh will meet Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Friday, a day after Beijing announced a “voluntary” and “binding” national goal of a 40-45 per cent cut in carbon intensity below 2005 levels by 2020. Carbon intensity is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic growth or GDP.

“China has given a wake-up call to us,” Ramesh told Hindustan Times... Read more..

Market for green enterprise is growing

As the world looks for effective models for social amelioration and environmental protection , the agents of change, it seems, will be a new breed of sustainable entrepreneurs. However , the growth of sustainable enterprises requires an infusion of finance, and rich-to-poor aid and technology flow has been a big part of the discussions ahead of December's climate conference in Copenhagen.

But what public funds haven't been able to do yet, private funds have, with a growing focus on emerging markets like China, Brazil and India. This is unlocking much needed private capital towards... Read more..