US wants differentiation between developed and developing countries scrapped
The residents of Delhi stand to lose 10 years of life expectancy if the current air pollution level persists.
The heavy industries ministry has asked US-based electric car major Tesla to first start manufacturing its iconic electric vehicles in India before any tax concessions can be considered, government sources said. They said that the government is not giving such concessions to any auto firm and giving duty benefits to Tesla will not send a good signal to other companies that have invested billions of dollars in India. Tesla has demanded reduction in import duties on electric vehicles (EVs) in India.
During his three-day UK visit until Tuesday, Modi is listed to address the COP26 summit with a national statement about India's climate action plan in the afternoon session on Monday, ahead of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Some of the world's biggest polluters, the US, China, European Union and India, have reiterated their previous pledges of cutting emissions by 2020 that were widely regarded as weak, especially the 17 per cent reduction of carbon emissions from 2020 levels proposed by the US.
Fitch Ratings on Monday said uncertainty over the bidder consortiums and process complexity, including valuation, may lead to potential delays in privatisation of India's second-largest fuel retailer, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). Affirming BPCL's rating at 'BBB-' with a negative outlook, Fitch said it continues to treat the potential divestment of the company by the Indian government as an event risk. "Bidders are conducting due diligence, but uncertainty over the bidder consortiums and process complexity, including valuation, may lead to potential delays.
It would help in saving fuel, reducing CO2 emissions as well as noise levels, according to officials
According to Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) Sameer app, the city's air quality index (AQI) stood at 449 in the severe category at 8 am on Saturday. It was 462 on Friday.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said he has asked US-based Tesla several times to manufacture its iconic electric vehicles in India, while assuring that all support will be provided by the government to the company. Addressing 'India Today Conclave 2021', Gadkari further said electric cars manufactured by Tata Motors are not less good than electric cars manufactured by Tesla. "I have told Tesla that don't sell electric cars in India which your company has manufactured in China.
The country's largest two wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp and Harley-Davidson on Tuesday announced a wide ranging partnership for the Indian market, days after the US cult bike manufacturer announced its exit from the country. As part of the deal, Hero MotoCorp will develop and sell a range of premium motorcycles under the Harley-Davidson brand name in the country. Besides, it will take care of service and parts requirements for the Harley bikes.
Let alone a discount, they might not even get the model, variant or colour of choice in BS-IV-compliant vehicles.
Though the civil aviation sector accounts for only two per cent of the global carbon emission, the industry has conducted sufficient research on the usage of alternative fuels, from the prospective of both environment and cost.
Besides job loss, the exit of the American cult bike maker would also lead to a loss of up to Rs 130 crore for the brand's dealer partners in the country.
The Niti Aayog has finalised the first draft of a new national energy policy.
A few interesting and offbeat moments culled from the climate change summit.
For India, the talks will work as another opportunity to sharpen its positions ahead of the formal UN negotiations.
The apex court also restrained e-commerce websites like Flipkart and Amazon from selling firecrackers which are beyond the permissible limit.
The coronavirus pandemic has not impacted India's long-term growth trajectory although it has delayed it and in this decade, the country will lead the global growth rates, Tata group chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Tuesday. Speaking at tech giant Microsoft's annual flagship event, Future Ready, he said it should be a national priority to enable access to healthcare and education using digital infrastructure for all in the country, considering how the acceleration of digital adoption during the pandemic has created a divide as many people, who do not have the means and access, have been left behind. "There are many things going for India. I think as the economy fully opens up post the pandemic, I believe that our growth will continue to get stronger.
The government on Friday announced several relief measures including deferring one-time registration fee, lifting the ban on purchase of petrol/diesel vehicles by its departments and allowing higher depreciation, but it remained non-committal on the demand for a reduction in GST rates.
China is the world's worst polluting nation with the highest overall annual emission of greenhouse gases.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday permitted the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd to pursue its plea with the relevant authority for felling 84 trees at Mumbai's Aarey Colony for constructing train ramps at its car shed project, saying it cannot be "oblivious of serious dislocation" which may be caused in projects involving "large public funds".
Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai would make the largest gain.
In India, air pollution is most severe in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (northern India), where topography and meteorology concentrate pollution from energy, mobility, industry, agriculture, and other activities, the researchers said.
In a rare face off, captains of the auto industry have hit out at the government for not walking the talk. At an industry event in the capital on Wednesday, R C Bhargava, chairman of India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki, and Venu Srinivasan, chairman of TVS Motor, questioned the government's intent to support the auto sector. Revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj sat in the audience listening, before his turn came to counter them.
While home-grown firms like Tata and Mahindra have been actively participating in the government's e-mobility mission, by launching electrified versions of their existing models, the global firms believe electric is not the best solution for a country where the primary source of power generation is coal, and where infrastructure is a big impediment.
The changeover to green crackers after extensive experiments marks a revival of the industry which has over 1,000 manufacturing units around Sivakasi and used to clock an annual turnover of over Rs 6,000 crore.
Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hyundai stand to gain the maximum, given their large portfolio of products in the sub-4 meter segment.
The biofuel component of the fuel used for the flight was from refined cooking oil.
"It (clear future direction for carbon markets) also indicates a new lease of life for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), especially in the Indian context where this market mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol has been a catalyst for enhanced action on climate mitigation by Indian industry," industry body Ficci said.
What are the most worrisome aspects of climate change for India? Can they be solved?
After a very weak December quarter and a poor year-to-date fiscal year volumes-when sales plunged to the lowest in nine years, the signs in the first 15 days of January haven't been encouraging either. "Though the severity of the current wave is not as high as the previous one, it has hit the sentiments hard impacting conversion of enquiries into sales," said Vinkesh Gulati, president, Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA).
'Urbanisation results in heavy rainfall events.'
Infosys aims to commission 55 MW of solar plants by end of 2016.
If Paris really meant to serve as a landmark in recognising equity in climate negotiations, it should have heralded the second phase of the Kyoto protocol. Instead we have all countries, India and China included, all signing up with voluntary commitments in what can only be seen as a race to the bottom, reports Darryl D'Monte.
India on Tuesday favoured a legally binding climate change agreement from the developed countries, saying a political pact will not be 'enforceable', even as it asserted that its voluntary reduction of carbon emission intensity was not announced under pressure.
According to the report, floods (43.4 per cent) and storms (28.2 per cent) are the two most frequently occurring disasters.
Last month, the US and China announced a significant deal setting limits on greenhouse gases.
Negotiators from 193 countries began nearly two-week long conference, the biggest on climate, to try and reach an agreement on combating the menace amidst hope that a deal was within reach with countries like India announcing voluntary reduction in carbon intensity, on Monday.
Negotiators from nearly 200 countries have accepted a new climate agreement after the COP26 summit in Glasgow concluded its extra time plenary on Saturday with a deal, which recognises India's intervention for the world to 'phase down' rather than "phase out" fossil fuels.
2015 is going to witness new agreements on climate change.
