Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Leaders Back Low-carbon Projects Ahead of Climate Talks

The world has reached a tipping point in the fight against climate change, yet leaders at the Summit on the Global Agenda in Dubai are optimistic that incremental victories will ensure the battle is ultimately won.

Public-private partnerships and financing are key to expanding the number of low-carbon projects that are making use of enabling technologies, according to leaders at the summit.

Countries, internal states and companies are increasingly implementing low-carbon initiatives with measurable impact, ahead of UN climate talks next month in Copenhagen aimed at... Read more..

Remote village lit up by solar power

The Macchalli village of Karwar taluk finally got electricity supply, with Karwar DC Channappa Gowda inaugurating the solar light facility extended to the village under Rajeev Gandhi Akshaya Urja Yojana (RGAUY) scheme on Wednesday.

The village is about 5 km away from Amadalli village and is located deep in the forest, above the hillock. One has to walk and then climb the steep hill to reach the village.

Every year the district administration used to spend lakhs of rupees on the RGAUY function in Karwar. But this time, the deputy commissioner planned to celebrate it in a... Read more..

ABB Focus: Climate Change and . CEO Joseph Hogan's view of the future.

You have invested heavily in emerging markets. Now there is no growth coming from here but developed markets like the U.S. seem to be reviving investments in power and oil and gas. So what are the short term dynamics you have to deal with there?

We have been a net exporter for years out of the developed countries and I want a balance of trade. I don't want to be a net exporter. The trick is to make sure how do we balance our portfolio in the sense we make investments in areas like emerging economies so that we are not caught off-guard from currency standpoint, or design and... Read more..

Echelon Participates in Energy Efficiency Trade Mission to India

Echelon Corp. has announced that it is participating in an energy efficiency trade mission to India, co-hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Government of India, and the Ministry of Power.

The mission aims to introduce U. S. manufacturers of energy efficient products

for industrial and/or green building applications and energy service companies to large energy users in India in the hopes of reducing energy use. The mission will visit New Delhi, Chennai, and Mumbai on November 16-20.

In a release, the Company noted that India suffers from obsolete... Read more..

India to go for Green Budgeting soon

The country’s Thirteenth Finance Commission which is scheduled to submit its report on federal transfer of resources to state governments on December 31, 2009 is likely to make special provision for green budgets for both the state and central governments.

“The 13th Finance Commission will be submitting its report to the President of India, Pratibha Devsingh Patil on December 31, 2009. It would have provisions for federal transfer of resources, including greenbudgeting as per its terms of reference,” said the Chairman, Vijay Kelkar on Friday at the release of Green India-2047, a... Read more..

Bihar villagers now get green electricity

A technology that converts rice husk into electricity is gaining ground in Bihar. Some 100,000 households in the state already use electricity produced from biomass and their number is steadily growing.

According to an estimate, 44 percent of India's population still live without electricity, making this biomass-based power generation technology indispensable in energy-starved states like Bihar.

Though this technology has been in use for the past 50 years in India, Husk Power Systems (HPS), a rural electrification company, has modified it to create a cost-effective... Read more..

GSMA Launches Green Manifesto for the Mobile Industry

Outlines how the Mobile Industry can Lower Emissions in Other Sectors by Over 4.5 Times Mobile's own Footprint Today at the Mobile Asia Congress, the GSMA unveiled Mobile's Green Manifesto, developed in collaboration with The Climate Group. Rob Conway, CEO and Member of the Board, GSMA, was joined at the launch by China Mobile's Chairman Wang Jianzhou, Kevin Tao, CEO Huawei Device, and Changhua Wu, Greater China Director The Climate Group, who outlined their existing environmental undertakings and goals for the future.The Green Manifesto sets out how the mobile industry plans to lower its... Read more..

Greenpeace report: India’s energy programme is anti-poor and carbon-intensive

Greenpeace today released a report – “Still Waiting” – which reveals that despite growth in electricity generation – and increasing carbon emissions – the rural poor continue to be deprived of electricity. The report challenges the government’s energy model and recommends a decentralised energy mix as a solution to overcome social injustice and mitigate climate change.

The report compares the electricity supply scenarios among rural and urban areas in five states in India (1). All villages covered in the report had power supply for less than 12 hours a day while cities and towns had... Read more..

Japan to help India set up clean energy parks

India and Japan will jointly set up new and renewable energy (NRE) parks in the country by March next using Japanese know-how and latest technology, business chambers of the two countries said in a joint statement here today. Assocham in July had signed a memorandum of understanding with a Japanese NGO that develops technology in renewable energy, designs energy parks and promotes non-conventional energy.Japanese ambassador Hideaki Domichi yesterday said these parks will showcase latest NRE technologies, including solar, wind and clean coal, adding one such park will be set up... Read more..

India, Canada to ink civil N-deal soon

Uranium-rich Canada hopes to sign an agreement soon with India for civilian nuclear cooperation. “I sincerely hope our government will soon conclude a civilian nuclear agreement which will enable development of nuclear power for civil use,” said visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday.

India has already signed civil nuclear agreements with the US, Russia and France after a three-decade supply ban was lifted in September 2008. Canada is in discussion with India and China to promote nuclear power generation to help meet rising energy demand in these countries. Both... Read more..

Binding climate treaty may slip far in to 2010

A binding international treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions will slip to mid-2010 or beyond and a summit in Copenhagen next month will fall short of its ambitions, the United Nations and Denmark said on Monday.

The United Nations' top climate official said a treaty could be wrapped up at talks in Bonn by mid-2010. Denmark, host of next month's meeting, said it might take longer - until Mexico in December. Negotiations on a deal, initially due to be reached at the Dec. 7-18 summit in Copenhagen, have stalled.

U.S. President Barack Obama and some other Asia Pacific leaders... Read more..

Belgium's Enfinity, Titan Energy to build 1 GW of solar PV in India's ...

Enfinity, a Belgium-based renewable energy developer, and Titan Energy Systems, a manufacturer of photovoltaic modules, are to collaborate on developing, financing and constructing 1 GW of solar photovoltaic installations on 3000 acres of land in Andhra Pradesh, India in the coming five years.

Enfinity has said that Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), an undertaking of the government of Andhra Pradesh, will allocate in long lease 3000 acres of land in the villages of Thumalla, Dademavaripalli, Pulikuntapalli, Karimireddypalli and Lokogipalli, and at the... Read more..