Sustainability Outlook Headlines

India aims for better practices to cut agri emissions, experts call for clear goals

India will step up efforts to curb emissions in agriculture within a national mission for sustainable agriculture, having stayed off a farm action agenda at the recent Glasgow COP26 climate summit, an official aware of the matter said.

The mission falls within the ambit of the National Action Plan on Climate Change, a programme that aims to make Indian farms more resilient to changing climate and is being monitored at the highest levels, the official said.

Globally, agriculture is responsible for a third of all greenhouse gas emissions, three-quarters of them coming from... Read more..

Bharti Airtel forms ESG Committee of board of directors

The telecom major has formed a committee of board of directors ("ESG Committee") to sharpen its focus towards its Environmental, Sustainability and Governance (ESG) agenda.

The ESG Committee will provide strategic guidance and oversight to the company's progress on ESG targets, initiatives and best practices. This will also include initiatives to respond to challenges posed by climate change through sustainable business practices.

Manish Kejriwal, lead independent director on the board will be the chairman of the ESG Committee. Other board members on the committee are D.K.... Read more..

Tamil Nadu asks centre to announce a viable policy on offshore wind energy

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has urged the Central government to come out with a viable policy on harnessing offshore wind energy.

Speaking at the Southern Zonal Council meeting held in Tirupathi on Sunday, Stalin said the state has huge potential to harness offshore wind energy.

"However, we are yet to get a green signal from the Central government to go ahead with our projects. Many international organisations are keen to establish partnerships with our government," he added.
 

"Therefore, we... Read more..

COP26: U.N. climate summit reaches carbon markets deal

Negotiators closed a deal setting rules for carbon markets at the United Nations COP26 climate talks on Saturday, potentially unlocking trillions of dollars for protecting forests, building renewable energy facilities and other projects to combat climate change.

The final deal adopted by nearly 200 countries will implement Article 6 of the 2015 Paris Agreement, allowing countries to partially meet their climate targets by buying offset credits representing emission cuts by others.

Companies, as well as countries with vast forest cover, had pushed for a robust deal on... Read more..

Goa preparing 100% renewable energy plan

The state government has started preparing a 100% renewable energy plan with the assistance of the Union government to achieve the goal of cent per cent use of renewable energy.
Environment minister Nilesh Cabral, in a letter to the Union government, stated that Goa is in the process of preparing a 100% renewable energy plan with assistance from the Union ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE).
Goa requires approximately 540MW power during the day and 640MW during peak hours, 6pm to 11pm. The government has notified a solar policy with 50% subsidy on benchmark cost.... Read more..

Global investors placing emphasis on companies' ESG performance: Survey

A significant percentage of investors around the world are paying more attention to companies' environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance when making investment decisions and may divest from firms with poor environmental track records, says a survey.

According to the 2021 EY Global Institutional Investor Survey, 74 per cent of institutional investors now more likely to "divest" based on poor ESG performance, than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report, now in its sixth year, canvasses the views of 320 institutional investors across 19 countries, including 15... Read more..

‘Carbon colonialism’: India, China among nations to reject first draft

SVA group of developing countries that includes India and China has rejected the first draft of the expected agreement from the Glasgow climate conference and asked for changing the entire section on enhancing of mitigation actions.

With less than two days left for the official end of the conference, this group, which calls itself Like Minded Developing Countries (LMDCs) and also includes Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia among several others, accused the developed countries of attempting to transfer their responsibilities on the rest of the world, and trying to... Read more..

UN climate summit lands pledges to slash emissions from cars, planes and ships

India's environment and climate minister says rich countries have “an obligation, responsibility, duty and a vow” to provide climate finance to developing nations and should deliver on an unfulfilled promise to raise USD 100 billion a year.
    In an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, Bhupender Yadav said addressing the shortcomings on finance was paramount to making the UN climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, a success.
    “I believe the biggest responsibility ... lies with the developed countries," Yadav said. "Because if there is any gap that remains it is in... Read more..

India calls for commitment from the global clean energy community for access to sustainable fuels, chemicals, and materials to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve global climate goals

India today called for commitment from the global clean energy community for access to sustainable fuels, chemicals, and materials to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve global climate goals as one of the mitigation measures.

Addressing the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) for the Mission Innovation Initiative last evening, Union Minister for Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh drew attention to the efforts made by India & Netherlands along with Mission Innovation Members in taking forward the Mission Innovation 2.0 through this newly... Read more..

India Launches E-Amrit Portal on EVs at COP26

India today launched ‘E-Amrit’, a web portal on electric vehicles (EVs), at the ongoing COP26 Summit in Glasgow, UK.

E-Amrit is a one-stop destination for all information on electric vehicles—busting myths around the adoption of EVs, their purchase, investment opportunities, policies, subsidies, etc.

... Read more..

Draft document of Glasgow pact says climate finance is insufficient

A draft document of the agreement that countries, including India, are negotiating in Glasgow, Scotland underlines that the promised climate finance by the developed countries is “insufficient to respond to the worsening climate change impacts in developing countries” and urges the developed countries to “urgently scale up.”

The provision of finance for mitigation and adaptation of the impact of global... Read more..

China may join Korea, Japan, Asean on ambitious global power grid

China may become a part of the ambitious One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG), with a Northeast Asia power interconnector being examined to connect the power grids of China, Korea, Japan, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).