At the roundtable Two, one of the four simultaneous meetings at the conference, a strongly worded statement by Minister of External Affairs S M Krishna said that the talks should focus on the developed countries who are reluctant to meet their commitments on emission reduction, let alone provide technological and financial support to developing countries.
Although India is the second largest generator of environment-friendly projects, domestic firms, public and private, are shying away from maximising the monetary benefits derived from such carbon emission reductions. The country, which is second only to China in terms of generating of carbon credits through the introduction of low polluting technologies, ranks very low when it comes to encashing of these credits through carbon trading.
A recent report by Barclays Capital, the global consultancy firm, forecast the Certified Emission Reduction price to surge 92 per cent in the first half of this year.
Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said "India's rhetoric was as strident as we ever heard China's, so we need to build a climate partnership with India, too; working from the same principles, but respecting the massive differences."
While India is pushed to keep a tight lid on its own carbon emissions, slow and low emission reduction by major polluters will cause an acceleration of climate change, says Rajni Bakshi.
At a virtual press conference to launch the report, Inger Anderson, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme, said, "Climate change is here and now. No one is safe. Despite warnings from so many years, the world did not listen. We need to act now. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will not only limit climate change but also reduce air pollution."
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has said India has capitulated at Cancun, betrayed its poor and agreed to "a weak and ineffective text that paves the way for ineffective emission reduction targets for the developed countries and scrapping of the Kyoto Protocol."
The National CDM Authority in India has accorded Host Country Approval to 1,455 projects. These projects have seen an investment of more than $33.7 billion(Rs 1.6 lakh crore).
Stalling the introduction of better emission standards is based on specious logic, especially in a country that has 13 of the world's most polluted cities.
The number of carbon credits or certified emission reduction (CERs) issued for a cut in the release of greenhouse gases into the environment is set to triple in India over the next three years, due to a rising number of claims from rapidly growing renewable energy (RE) projects.
Whatever little was happening on emission reductions through the carbon trading mechanism has been halted by the collapse of the carbon market, in the wake of the global economic recession.
Major nations in the group are concerned over several drafts of a potential agreement that are floating around including the Danish proposal, which is yet to be fully disclosed.
The sustainable impact of this process is under scrutiny, Tripathi added.
Ajit Chordia, managing director of Khivraj Tech Park, "We are looking at generating 20,000 CERs annually for now, but will generate more carbon credits as we comply with additional norms laid down under the Kyoto Protocol"
Billionaire Gautam Adani's group is building the world's largest renewable energy park in Gujarat, as it eyes a massive 45 GW capacity to generate electricity largely from solar energy. Speaking at the opening of 'Energy Revolution: The Adani Green Energy Gallery' at the Science Museum in London, Gautam Adani said his group's renewable energy arm, Adani Green Energy, is leading an energy transition that honours the commitment of taking care of the planet not just for this generation and the next but also for generations to come. "As the world's leading solar power developer and India's largest renewable energy company, we are taking very big steps," he said.
'Our politicians solely depend on bureaucrats who are unaccountable and follow their own agenda.' 'Our politicians would dare not dream of establishing a DOGE,' argues Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the Delhi government's order putting a comprehensive ban on manufacturing, storage, sale and bursting of firecrackers in the city, saying people's health is important.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) has ambitious plans to increase capacity. It is also seeking shareholders' approval for a complex swap transaction, which would acquire Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG), a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) through a preferential offer. SMC already holds 56.37 per cent of MSIL's equity.
HUL has recently developed a new process of manufacturing soap based on 'Plough Share Mixer' technology which eliminates the need for steam in soap making. The new technology cuts carbon emissions by 15,000 tons per year and HUL has been awarded carbon credits for this under the Clean Development Mechanism scheme operated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Developed nations have refused financial support for climate change to India, China and Brazil.
Rather than talking endlessly about lost and marginal opportunities, India's climate envoys need to start thinking bigger, says Mihir S Sharma.
While prices sustaining lower levels is crucial, Govt actions are also a key monitorable given the forthcoming elections in 2024.
Mahanagar Gas (MGL) has just hiked prices for compressed natural gas (CNG) and domestic piped natural gas (PNG) in the Mumbai Metro Area. The distributor raised prices by Rs 1.50 per kilogramme (kg) for CNG, bringing the price up to Rs 75 per kg, including taxes. Domestic PNG prices were hiked from Rs 1 per standard cubic meter (SCM) to Rs 48 per SCM, inclusive of taxes.
Adopted after nearly two weeks of hectic negotiations, the first Global Stocktake deal, being termed the UAE consensus, urges countries to accelerate efforts toward the phase-down of unabated coal power, which is a climb down after India and China strongly resisted the singling out of coal.
And the US won the evening
Nothing is more promising than countries putting aside hubris and ideological differences to invest in our shared future, observes Durga Sreenivasan, a delegate at COP28.
'The UK is more of a structural problem, and that's why we're doing the restructuring.'
With the weaker-than-expected agreement at the recent Climate Change Conference at Lima, there is an urgent need to highlight endeavours in civil society and business for a sustainable global economy with grassroots empowerment, say Rajni Bakshi.
In Budget 2015, the finance minister has opted to take the slow road and has doubled the cess on coal to "balance the need to tax pollution and the price of power" in his words.
Indian Railways has managed to improve its freight volumes each year since the pandemic. However, its inability to add new industries and goods will pose a challenge for the national transporter in the wake of it setting an ambitious target of 45 per cent share in the national logistics by 2030. According to officials, the ministry of railways achieved 114 million tonnes (mt) of miscellaneous goods (classified as balance and other goods) in 2023-24.
Maruti will launch its first electric vehicle (EV) in the next financial year (FY24), and will roll out six EVs in the country by FY30, the automaker's parent firm Suzuki said on Thursday.
Heatwaves with higher humidity levels can be more perilous because the air cannot efficiently absorb excess moisture. This limitation restricts the human body's ability to evaporate sweat and affects the moisture content of certain infrastructure like evaporative coolers.
With climate change impacts worsening and affecting the poor and most vulnerable, governments urgently need to scale up adaptation
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday unveiled the prototype of the world's first Bharat Stage (BS)-VI-compliant electrified flex-fuel car, developed by Toyota Kirloskar Motor. The car, which runs on 100 per cent ethanol (E100), is based on the Toyota Innova HyCross. It can cover 40 per cent of its distance on ethanol and the remaining 60 per cent on electric, with the petrol engine shut off.
For IT services companies, ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) metrics are becoming a crucial component in winning deals as clients are considering sustainability a top priority and are keen to work with partners who are on the same page. "Sustainability is becoming an important part of the client's evaluation. "There is a tremendous focus across the world on sustainability, and it is becoming one of the top five business priorities.
In a statement, Energy Secretary Earnest Moniz said this is the most ambitious initiative any president in history has taken to reduce heat-trapping emissions.
'The Indian cement sector is the most energy-efficient worldwide, mainly due to modern technology used in the plants but also because of efficient monitoring of a plant's performance on a daily basis, focusing on energy savings and carbon dioxide emission reductions.'
The stock of auto component major Bosch was up 2.5 per cent on Wednesday and in the process hit its 52-week high. Expectations of higher volumes of medium and heavy commercial vehicles' (M&HCV), rise in content supplies on account of BS VI stage 2 implementation from April, and improved profitability are some of the positives for the stock. In addition to this, the company appointed a new managing director and joint managing director last week, which will come into effect from July 1.
