Page 48 - Climate Change

Rushed green nod, poor planning in focus as rains wash away hill roads

Another major concern, according to experts, is the way these projects are awarded

Export, import cost may rise from Jan 2027 from decarbonisation measures

Decarbonisation measures for the global shipping industry to reduce carbon emissions in the coming years may increase the cost of doing exports and imports from January 2027, a report by think tank GTRI said on Monday. The 175-member International Maritime Organization (IMO) notified its strategy on July 7 to decarbonise the global shipping sector and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, the Global Trade Research Institute (GTRI) said It added that IMO has also set interim targets for reducing emissions by 20-30 per cent by 2030 and 70-80 per cent by 2040, compared to 2008. It added that IMO has also suggested the shipping industry to switch to cleaner fuel. "By 2030 cleaner fuel must account for a minimum 5 per cent total fuel use. IMO will notify detailed measures next year. While IMO recommendations are not legally binding, countries are expected to achieve the targets set. This year, few countries pushed for a flat tax of USD 100 per tonne of carbon emission by ships, yet IMO ..

India's green hydrogen push and challenges, everything you need to know

Although first production is expected only in 2026, India has been negotiating bilateral agreements with the European Union, Japan and other countries to start exporting the fuel

Climate change: It's all about money

Down to earth

IMO adopts interim guidance on biofuels' use in shipping to cut emissions

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has adopted interim guidance on the use of biofuels and biofuel blends, a resolution vehemently pushed by India at a maritime environment protection conference here. The London-based IMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations which is responsible for measures to improve the safety and security of international shipping and to prevent pollution from ships. The interim guidance adopted on Thursday at the 80th Session of the Maritime Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the IMO stressed that biofuels that have been certified by an international certification scheme, meeting its sustainability criteria and provide a well-to-wake GHG emissions reduction of at least 65 per cent compared to the fossil fuels can be used in the shipping industry. With this guidance coming into effect, India has great potential to be developed as a biofuel hub of the world. "We, with our highly sustainable second-generation biofuel, are the leaders i

June this year warmest in past three decades globally, says report

Ocean temperatures also rose to their highest levels since at least 1991, making June the third consecutive month a new record has been created

India wants to export green hydrogen abroad in bet on demand surge

Although India currently only boasts green-hydrogen research facilities - rather than production capability - PM Modi has set a goal to produce 5 million tons a year by the end of the decade

Thunberg charged with disobeying law enforcement during protest in Sweden

Swedish prosecutors have charged climate activist Greta Thunberg with disobedience to law enforcement in connection with a protest in Malm last month. Local newspaper Sydsvenskan reported Wednesday that Thunberg was detained with other activists after they stopped traffic in the oil terminal of the port in Malm on June 19. A short statement by Swedish prosecutors on Wednesday said a young woman was charged with disobedience because she "refused to comply with police orders to leave the scene during the protest. The statement didn't identify the woman, but Swedish Prosecution Authority spokeswoman Annika Collin confirmed that it was Thunberg. Sydsvenskan said the 20-year-old Swedish activist will be called to trial at the end of July. Prosecutor Charlotte Ottosen told the paper that the crime of disobedience is typically punishable with fines. Thunberg's media team didn't immediately answer a request for comment. Thunberg inspired a global youth movement demanding stronger efforts

Monday was the hottest day ever as global temperatures rise, shows data

The average worldwide temperature was 17C (63F), just above the previous record of 16.9C reached in August 2016, according to data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction

India mulls bilateral deals for green hydrogen-linked carbon credits

Indian companies such as Reliance Industries, Indian Oil and Adani Enterprises have big plans for green hydrogen, a fuel generated using renewable energy

UK had the hottest June since 1884, unusual heat to become frequent

The UK sweltered through its hottest June since records began in 1884, the country's weather agency said Monday, adding that human-induced climate change means such unusual heat will become more frequent in the next few decades. The average temperature for June in the UK hit 15.8 degrees Celsius (60.4 Fahrenheit) 0.9 C hotter than the joint previous record of 14.9 C in 1940 and 1976, according to the Met Office's provisional figures. Meteorologists say that thanks to climate change, the chance of beating the previous joint record has at least doubled since the 1940s. Alongside natural variability, the background warming of the Earth's atmosphere due to human-induced climate change has driven up the possibility of reaching record high temperatures, said Paul Davies at the Met Office. By the 2050s, the chance of surpassing the previous record of 14.9 C could be as high as around 50 per cent, or every other year. Large areas of the country, from the Orkney Islands in northern Scotla

Price-sensitive Gen-Z prefers shopping recommendations made by friends

While Gen Z shoppers display a great deal of concern for climate change and sustainability, they are seldom willing to pay the additional cost that goes into making such products

Protecting biodiversity top priority of Modi govt: Environment Min

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Saturday asserted that the protection of biodiversity is the top priority of the Narendra Modi government. Yadav, while addressing the 108th Foundation Day celebrations of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) as the chief guest, said that in the last 10 years, 45 wetlands were declared as Ramsar sites, including 11 in 2022 alone. "Rewilding and biodiversity restoration remain a top priority for our government. Our recent trans-continental reintroduction of cheetah in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh received global acclaim," Yadav said. Seven decades after cheetahs became extinct in India, the Centre brought to the country eight members of the species from Namibia and released those in Kuno. In the second such translocation, 12 cheetahs were flown in from South Africa and released in the same national park. However, three cheetahs died later. "Climate change has busted the myth of human superiority. We are not superior to nature, we

Climate change making wildfires worse, scientists call it new abnormal

It was a smell that invoked a memory. Both for Emily Kuchlbauer in North Carolina and Ryan Bomba in Chicago. It was smoke from wildfires, the odour of an increasingly hot and occasionally on-fire world. Kuchlbauer had flashbacks to the surprise of soot coating her car three years ago when she was a recent college graduate in San Diego. Bomba had deja vu from San Francisco, where the air was so thick with smoke people had to mask up. They figured they left wildfire worries behind in California, but a Canada that's burning from sea to warming sea brought one of the more visceral effects of climate change home to places that once seemed immune. It's been very apocalyptic feeling, because in California the dialogue is like, Oh, it's normal. This is just what happens on the West Coast,' but it's very much not normal here, Kuchlbauer said. As Earth's climate continues to change from heat-trapping gases spewed into the air, ever fewer people are out of reach from the billowing and deadly

Boris ally quits UK govt, accuses Sunak of apathy toward climate issues

A British environment minister who is close to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson quit on Friday, accusing the current government of apathy toward climate issues. Zac Goldsmith said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was simply uninterested in the environment. This government's apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we have faced makes continuing in my current role untenable, he wrote in a resignation letter released on social media. He said Britain has visibly stepped off the world stage and withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature. Goldsmith, Sunak and Johnson are all members of the governing Conservative Party. Goldsmith, 48, is a long-time conservationist who was appointed to Parliament's unelected House of Lords by Johnson before Johnson resigned almost a year ago amid ethics scandals. Goldsmith's resignation comes the day after he was among eight allies of the former prime minister criticised by lawmakers for trying to undermine a committee investigating whether Johnso

Lockdown in 2020 prevented 27 MT of Himalayan snowmelt: Research

As many as 27 metric tonnes of ice and snow melt in the Himalayas had been prevented by the Indian national lockdown, in place from March 25, 2020, to May 31, 2020, according to a new study. Diminished anthropogenic pollutant emissions during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdowns reduced snowmelt in the Himalayas, the study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Nexus said. Liqiang Zhang from Beijing Normal University, China, and colleagues explored how the sudden, dramatic reduction in particulate pollution in the region affected snow and ice melt, using multiple satellite data as well as a coupled atmosphere-chemistry-snow model. The authors estimate that the reduced anthropogenic pollutant emissions during the Indian lockdown was responsible for 71.6 per cent of the reduction in radiative forcing on snow in April 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. This reduction in radiative forcing may have prevented 27 MT in ice and snow melt. The results emphasised

Union Cabinet approves ratification of Headquarters Agreement with CDRI

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the ratification of the Headquarters Agreement between the Government of India and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). The CDRI was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the United Nations climate action summit on September 23, 2019 in New York. It is a major global initiative launched by the government and is seen as India's attempt to obtain a global leadership role in climate change and disaster resilience matters, according to an official release. The Union Cabinet, in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Modi, has given its approval to the ratification of the Headquarters Agreement (HQA) between the government and CDRI signed on August 22 last year, it said. Ratification of the headquarters agreement will facilitate grant of exemptions, immunities and privileges as contemplated under Section-3 of the United Nations (Privileges and Immunities) Act, 1947 and will provide CDRI an independent and internationa

Govt makes draft rules to incentivise voluntary environmental actions

The government has come out with the draft Green Credit Programme Implementation Rules 2023 for incentivising voluntary environmental actions of various stakeholders. According to a notification issued by the Environment Ministry, the Green Credit programme encourages private sector industries and companies as well as other entities to meet their existing obligations, stemming from other legal frameworks, by taking actions which are able to converge with activities relevant for generating or buying Green Credits. The main objectives of the Green Credit Programme are to create a market based mechanism for providing incentives in the form of Green Credits to individuals, farmer producer organisations, cooperatives, forestry enterprises, sustainable agriculture enterprises, urban and rural local bodies, private sectors, industries and organisations for environment positive actions. The programme also envisages to create a mass movement around environment positive actions and realise th

EU faces cliffhanger climate vote after parliament deadlocked on key bill

The European Union is facing a cliffhanger vote next month that will test its global climate and environmental credentials, after its parliament was again deadlocked on pushing a nature restoration bill onwards on Tuesday. The legislature's environment committee emerged deadlocked at 44-44 on the plan to beef up the restoration of nature in the 27-nation bloc that was damaged during decades of industrial expansion. It means the full parliament will be asked to reject it. "The fight is not over. We will do our utmost to rally forces throughout the hemicycle behind an ambitious law to the benefit of people and the planet, said socialist S&D legislator Mohammed Chahim. The parliament's biggest group, the Christian Democrat EPP, has turned against the plan, arguing it is bad for embattled farmers and puts food security at risk at a time when the war in Ukraine has shown that strategic autonomy on foodstuffs can be essential. The bill is a key part of the EU's vaunted European Green ...

Vegetable prices go up due to inadequate rains, soaring temperature

Vegetable prices have gone up due to insufficient rains in the state, traders said on Tuesday. However, the arrival of vegetables from north India is preventing the prices from sky-rocketing, vegetable dealers said. The price of tomatoes which were sold for Rs 20 or Rs 30 per kg, have gone up to Rs 80 at the KR Market itself whereas beans are sold for somewhere between Rs 80 and Rs 100 per kg. Carrot is sold for Rs 60 per kg and Okra (ladies finger) is also available at Rs 40 to Rs 60 per kg. According to vegetable traders in the KR Market here, the primary reason behind the price rise is the inadequate rains in the state this time. "We did not receive proper rains. Also, temperature is high. Due to these two reasons many vegetable crops were damaged. The variation in temperature and lack of proper rain led to pest attack on tomatoes," Manjunath, a trader in KR Market told PTI. He also said the prices of ginger too have gone up due to insufficient rains. Sridhar, another trader,