Emissions

Hyundai, Mahindra, Kia among firms fined Rs 7,300 cr for emission breach

The Centre has imposed Rs 7,300 crore penalty on eight automakers, including Hyundai, Mahindra, and Kia, for violating fleet emission norms in FY22-23

Fossil emissions to hit record this year, India's share to rise: Report

India's fossil fuel emissions are projected to rise by 4.6 per cent in 2024, while China could see a marginal rise of 0.2 per cent, according to new research by a group of international scientists. The report, unveiled during the UN climate conference or COP29 in Azerbaijan's Baku on Wednesday, stated that global carbon emissions from fossil fuels could reach 37.4 billion tonnes, an increase of 0.8 per cent from 2023 levels. Atmospheric CO2 levels are projected to reach 422.5 parts per million in 2024, which is set to become the warmest year on record. This is 2.8 parts per million higher than in 2023 and 52 per cent above pre-industrial levels. "The impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly dramatic, yet we still see no sign that burning of fossil fuels has peaked," said Professor Pierre Friedlingstein of Exeter's Global Systems Institute, who led the study. According to a UN report released last month, India's greenhouse gas emissions surged by 6.1 per cent in 2023, ...

Abu Dhabi, Microsoft partner on AI push to make energy mkt more efficient

"It will speed up seismic surveys from months to days," Al Jaber said, adding that it will also make the industry more sustainable by reducing emissions

Japan plans automated transport to address driver shortage, cut emissions

Japan is planning to build an automated cargo transport corridor between Tokyo and Osaka, dubbed a conveyor belt road by the government, to make up for a shortage of truck drivers. The amount of funding for the project is not yet set. But it's seen as one key way to help the country cope with soaring deliveries. A computer graphics video made by the government shows big, wheeled boxes moving along a three-lane corridor, also called an auto flow road, in the middle of a big highway. A trial system is due to start test runs in 2027 or early 2028, aiming for full operations by the mid-2030s. We need to be innovative with the way we approach roads, said Yuri Endo, a senior deputy director overseeing the effort at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Apart from making up for a shrinking labour force and the need to reduce workloads for drivers, the system also will help cut carbon emissions, she said. The key concept of the auto flow-road is to create dedicated

Greenhouse gas emissions increases to new record in 2023: WMO report

Greenhouse gas levels surged to a new record in 2023, rising by more than 10 per cent in just two decades, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). In the course of 2023, large vegetation fire CO2 emissions and a possible reduction in carbon absorption by forests combined with stubbornly high fossil fuel CO2 emissions from human and industrial activities to drive the increase, according to the WMO's annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. The globally averaged surface concentration of carbon dioxide reached 420 parts per million (ppm), methane 1934 parts per billion and nitrous oxide 336.9 parts per billion (ppb) in 2023. These values are 151 per cent, 265 per cent and 125 per cent of pre-industrial (before 1750) levels, it said. These are calculated on the basis of the long-term observations within the Global Atmosphere Watch network of monitoring stations. Another year. Another record. This should set alarm bells ringing among decision makers. We are clea

India saw steepest surge in greenhouse emission in 2023, says report

The UNEP report reveals a technical potential to cut emission by up to 31 gigatons of CO₂ equivalent in 2030, representing about 52 per cent of the 2023 emission and up to 41 gigatons by 2035

JSW Steel partners with BHP, Carbon Clean to work on capture technology

JSW Steel on Thursday said it has signed a pact with BHP and Carbon Clean to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture technology in the steelmaking process. India's steel sector accounts for 12 per cent of India's greenhouse gas emissions, with an emission intensity of 2.5 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of crude steel compared to the global average of 1.9 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of crude steel, as per official estimates. "JSW Steel, BHP and Carbon Clean are collaborating to accelerate deployment of carbon capture technology for steelmaking decarbonisation. "Under the agreement, the parties will commence joint studies to explore the feasibility of Carbon Clean's CycloneCC modular technology to capture up to 1 lakh tonne per year of CO2 emissions," JSW Steel said in a statement. There are several challenges with the adoption of carbon capture technology in the steel industry, including capital expenditure and ongoing operating costs, as well as the integration of new equipment into an ..

Global emissions likely have peaked as renewable sources take hold

The cost of deploying solar panels and battery technology is due to drop by 19 per cent by 2030, helping deliver record amounts of low carbon power

China's CO2 emissions may fall by a third by 2035 with new UN targets

With China on course to meet its 2030 climate goals with relative ease, it could now capitalise on its renewable energy advantages

Over 40% of corporations and regions around the world lack emission targets

While 1,750 of more than 4,000 major corporations, cities, and regions around the world have made formal net-zero pledges, nearly 1,700 have yet to set any targets

Pollution of warming gas methane soars; people are mostly to blame: Study

The amount and proportion of the powerful heat-trapping gas methane that humans spew into the atmosphere is rising, helping to turbocharge climate change, a new study finds. Tuesday's study finds that in 2020, the last year complete data is available, the world put 670 million tons (608 million metric tons) of methane in the air, up nearly 12 per cent from 2000. An even more significant finding in the study in Environmental Research Letters was the source of those emissions: those from humans jumped almost 18 per cent in two decades, while natural emissions, mostly from wetlands, inched up just 2 per cent in the same time. Methane levels in the air are now 2.6 times higher than in pre-industrial times, the study said. Methane levels in the air had plateaued for a while in the early 2000s, but now are soaring. Humans cause methane emissions by burning fossil fuels, engaging in large-scale agriculture and filling up landfills. Methane is a climate menace that the world is ignoring, ..

Substantial subsidies for electric vehicles are no longer required: Gadkari

At the BNEF Summit, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari highlighted the lower GST rates on electric vehicles compared to those on petrol and diesel vehicles

Antibiotic production waste fuelling drug-resistant bacteria, warns WHO

In a first, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued norms on managing waste during antibiotic production

India's power emissions must peak by 2026 to align with Paris pact

The world's third-biggest emitter needs $12.4 trillion in investment to reach net zero ahead of its official target of 2070, BNEF said in its New Energy Outlook for India

India has decoupled economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions: Survey

India has successfully reduced the emission intensity of its GDP, the Survey said

From algorithms to emissions: Google struggles with AI's energy hunger

Artificial intelligence systems, which need a lot of computing power housed in energy-hungry data centres, have become crucial in Google's operations

Global fossil fuel use, emissions hit records in 2023, says report

Overall global primary energy consumption hit an all-time high of 620 Exajoules (EJ), the report said

Nitrous oxide emissions grew 40% in 40 yrs, China largest emitter: Study

Planet-warming nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions grew by 40 per cent between 1980 and 2020, with China being the largest emitter, followed by India and the US, according to a new report. The study by the Global Carbon Project, a network of climate scientists, also said that 74 per cent of the nitrous oxide emissions in the past decade came from the use of nitrogen fertilizers and animal manure in agriculture. The top 10 emitters are China, India, the US, Brazil, Russia, Pakistan, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey, and Canada, it said. Nitrous oxide is the third most significant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide and methane and is 273 times more potent than CO2 over 100 years. The increase in greenhouse gases has already raised the Earth's average surface temperature by 1.15 degrees Celsius compared to the 1850-1900 average. Anthropogenic nitrous oxide emissions contribute to about 0.1 degrees of this warming. In 2022, the concentration of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere reached 336 parts

World hits streak of record temperatures as UN warns of 'climate hell'

The average global temperature for the 12-month period to the end of May was 1.63 degrees Celsius (2.9 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial average

China plans CO2 emission cuts in key industries by 1% of 2023 level

The plan said China would 'strictly' control coal consumption, 'reasonably' control petroleum consumption and promote use of biofuel and sustainable aviation fuel