Sustainability Outlook Headlines

India seeks to be a leader in the Climate Change Action

India seeks to be a leader in the Climate Change Action, as manifested by its initiatives towards reducing fossil fuel dependency and emissions, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said here on Monday, adding that New Delhi would not limit these efforts to its own soil only. Delivering a keynote address on the occasion of the completion of 55 years of Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme, Jaishankar said: "India seeks to be the leader in Climate Change Action. India's initiative of the International Solar Alliance led by the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi... Read more..

700 Electric Buses To Ply On Uttar Pradesh Roads Under FAME II

As part of the second phase of the Centre’s FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in India) scheme, under which 5,595 air-conditioned electric buses are to be bought across the country. The Uttar Pradesh has put out bids to buy 700 electric buses in one go at a cost of Rs 1,065 crore to run them in 15 cities, including Varanasi, Agra and Lucknow. “In order to kick-start green mobility, the Directorate of Urban Transport, Government of Uttar Pradesh is inviting proposals from interested parties for procurement, supply, operation and maintenance of electric... Read more..

ReNew load shedding sees 300MW of solar assets  put  on  the  block

ReNew Power, which until recently was a major acquirer of renewable assets in India, has put 300 megawatts (MW) of solar assets on sale as the company tries to cope with rising uncertainty in the industry, two people aware of the development said. The move to raise capital through sale of assets comes at a time when the renewable energy sector is facing several challenges. The Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to renege on contracts signed by the previous Telugu Desam Party-led state government to buy power from green energy producers has unnerved investors. Besides, delayed payments by... Read more..

‘Smart Asia 2019’ Comes to Mumbai With Focus on Smart Cities Development

After a resounding success in Bengaluru in 2017 and 2018, the Smart Asia – Expo & Summit 2019, organized by The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), in association with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), is being held in Mumbai for the first time at Bombay Exhibition Centre from October 17 to October 19, 2019. The event will focus on Smart City Solutions, Smart Technology Applications, and City Development Products and Services. This year’s event will bring together industry leaders in the smart city domain, while the expo will showcase... Read more..

Consultation key to land restoration

The world faces huge and unprecedented biodiversity and climate change challenges. One way we can help address these challenges is through the restoration of degraded land. Restoring landscapes—done properly in consultation with local communities, governments and scientists—has huge environmental, climate mitigation but also, importantly, economic benefits. It also contributes to many of the Sustainable Development Goals. A 2015–2019 Global Environment Facility project, Building the foundation for forest landscape restoration at scale, implemented by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and... Read more..

Minister to ask states to uphold PPAs with green energy firms

Union power minister RK Singh will urge state governments to uphold the sanctity of contracts signed with renewable energy companies and speak about the impact of reneging from agreements when he addresses power ministers of states this week. Singh will emphasise at the meeting on October 11-12 in Gujarat that power purchase agreements have to be honoured, a senior government official told ET. The discussion is one of the key items on agenda of the power minister’s meet in the backdrop of states dishonouring renewable energy purchase contracts. The minister will talk about timely payments... Read more..

Commonwealth targets climate change with replicable regeneration projects

The Commonwealth on Friday launched an ideas-sharing network to tackle the effects of climate change through replicable regeneration projects.

The 53-country bloc held a two-day brainstorming of indigenous groups, environmentalists, scientists and climate change experts at its headquarters in London.

The Common Earth initiative will be a network of projects that can be copied and adapted to suit communities around the world.

While the Commonwealth contains G20 industrial powers like Britain, Canada and Australia and emerging forces like India and Nigeria, many of its... Read more..

Power ministry issues revised norms for EV charging infra to boost e-mobility

To promote electric vehicles (EV), Power Minister R K Singh on Friday approved amendments in guidelines and specifications for charging infrastructure. These revised guidelines and specifications shall supersede the earlier guidelines and standards issued by the Ministry of Power on December 14, 2018, according to a statement by the Power Ministry. Singh said in the statement that the revised guidelines are more consumer friendly, as they incorporate a number of suggestions received from various stakeholders. "We have tried to address the concerns of EV owners in new guidelines," he added... Read more..

IIT-Guwahati builds AI tool to help boost EV motor designing

Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT-G) has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smart engineer, an engineering system design tool, in collaboration with IBM to help rapidly create experts in electric vehicle (EV) motor designing in the country. IIT-G on Saturday announced the development of the AI-assisted engineering system design tool built by its team comprising PhD and masters students - Rajendra Kumar, Bikash Sah, Ankit Vishway and Rajendra Kumar. The tool has been designed by leveraging the IBM Watson AI platform and IBM cloud. The smart engineer, built in the... Read more..

US seeks greater involvement in Indian renewable energy sector

A multi-institutional delegation from the US has arrived here to seek greater involvement in the Indian energy sector. The team consisting of Francis Fannon, a senior US State Department official on energy, the US government’s aid arm and its energy regulator and ministry will meet government officials and CEOs days after PM Narendra Modi held three roundtables in the US, one specifically with energy sector businesses, to seek greater involvement. The conversations will take place at a time when India is about to provide mega investment and manufacturing opportunities in traditional and... Read more..

Policy stability at state level must to boost renewable projets: ReNew CMD

Policy stability, particularly at the state level, is a must for boosting installation of clean energy capacity in the coming days, a top official of ReNew Power said on Thursday. His comments have come against the background of Andhra Pradesh seeking to renegotiate tariff price of concluded power purchase agreements with renewable energy developers. Renewable energy developers as well as government nodal agencies, NTPC and Solar Energy Development Corporation, have refused to do so. "There is a policy stability issue at the state level...There is one state (Andhra Pradesh) which tried to... Read more..

Electric mobility in India needs a common framework, says report

Even as more states are framing policies to promote electric mobility, the need is to develop a common framework for consistency and to accelerate adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). Rather than only a collection of incentives, goes a report from the World Economic Forum (WEF), the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation and the Ola Mobility Institute (OMI). The report takes stock of 10 states and Union Territories that are building momentum for EV usage across the areas of manufacturing, infrastructure and services. It says EV uptake s has been slow because the vehicles... Read more..