Sustainability Outlook Headlines

India to achieve 50% clean energy share, 500 GW RE capacity targets before 2030 deadline: RK Singh

India will easily achieve the target of 50 per cent share of energy from non-fossil fuels and also the 500-gigawatt (GW) renewable energy capacity before the deadline of 2030 set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh. It assumes significance in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pledge at the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow that India will achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2070. Modi also raised the nationally determined contribution (NDC) target of non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030, from 450 gigawatts earlier.... Read more..

Maharashtra joins UN Race to Resilience Campaign at COP26

Maharashtra Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray on Tuesday announced state's entry to the United Nations Race to Resilience campaign. Last year, the state government had incurred losses worth $2 billion paid as compensation for those impacted by extreme weather events. "As India's most industrialised state, Maharashtra is a crucial voice in building climate resilience in the Global South. By joining the Race to Resilience, Maharashtra aims to be a leading example for regional governments, inspire climate action and sustainable development," Thackeray told the media at the ongoing 26th... Read more..

Lack of a serious approach to climate finance will jeopardize the enhanced mitigation and adaptation ambition as well as Net Zero pledges of parties: BASIC countries at COP26

India takes the floor on behalf of BASIC, comprising of Brazil, South Africa, India and China. We align ourselves with the Statement made by Guinea on behalf of G77 and China. The BASIC nations thank you and the secretariat for convening this stocktake and the work done so far. We convey assurances of our constructive support for the remaining part of the work in this coming week. We want to flag a continuing challenge that requires your attention. Access to the venue remains challenging, and we feel that the SEC is the least accessible COP venues in recent memory. We request you and the... Read more..

Cost of electric vehicles will be on a par with petrol variants in 2 years: Nitin Gadkari

Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari said that the cost of electric vehicles (EV) in India will drop to the level of petrol vehicles in the next two years. “Within two years, the cost of EVs will come down to a level that will be at par with their petrol variants. Already GST is only 5% on EVs and the cost of lithium ion batteries is also declining. Besides, the government has already framed a policy allowing petrol pumps to set up EV charging stations. In two years there will be a lot charging points across India as well,” Gadkari said at a webinar, organised by The Sustainability... Read more..

The International Solar Alliance and Elsevier launch Solar Compass, with Ambassador Stephane Crouzat at COP26

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) an inter-governmental treaty-based international organization and Elsevier, a global leader in research publishing and information analytics, are pleased to announce the launch of a new journal, Solar Compass. The launch event was held during the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference COP26, in Glasgow, with H.E Mr. Stephane Crouzat, Ambassador for Climate, Government of France, and H.E. Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, International Solar Alliance in attendance, releasing the first official call for papers to authors around the world. ISA’s... Read more..

US backs India and UK-led solar Green Grids Initiative at COP26

At a meeting earlier this week, US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said that the US is excited to be back in the climate conversation and to partner with the new initiative. LONDON: The US has partnered with the UK and India-led Green Grids Initiative of a global energy grid launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. At a meeting of the Steering Committee of the Green Grids Initiative – ‘One Sun One World One Grid' (GGI-OSOWOG) earlier this week, US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said that the US is excited to be back in the climate... Read more..

UP govt starts interest waiver scheme for electricity consumers on bill arrears

The Uttar Pradesh government has started an interest waiver scheme for electricity consumers on their bill arrears, the state's Energy Minister for Srikant Sharma has said. "Under the scheme, interest on arrears would be waived off for certain category of consumers," Sharma, UP Minister for Energy and Additional Source of Energy, told reporters. He said the money realised will pave the way for improvement as the department is already running at a deficit of Rs 90,000 crore. The loan waiver scheme has been introduced as roughly 70 per cent of rural consumers are not able to deposit their... Read more..

Automakers reveal plans to go all-electric in 2021, COP26 a booster

The success of Tesla has pushed nearly all automakers to go all-electric in 2021, and the COP26 climate conference has provided a booster dose to initiate strategies for the supply of batteries, electric motors, power electronics and other components for a green future. With Renault in June, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis in July, to name a few, 2021 has become the year when mainstream automakers solidified their intent to become "all-electric" and transition further towards electrification. According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, there will be a step-change in the supply of... Read more..

UN Secretary-General issues new global roadmap to secure clean energy access for all by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050

As pressure mounts for urgent climate action, UN Secretary-General António Guterres today issued a global roadmap to achieve a radical transformation of energy access and transition by 2030, while also contributing to net zero emissions by 2050. The roadmap sets an aggressive timeline to ensure that 500 million more people gain access to electricity in a mere four years’ time, by 2025, and 1 billion more people gain access to clean cooking solutions. This would require that annual investment in access to electricity and clean cooking increase to US$ 35 billion and US$ 25 billion,... Read more..

What is ISRO's 'Solar Power Calculator' that is to be offered to the world?

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has demonstrated the method of identifying the best suited locations for installing upcoming solar power generation farms, across the globe. India's state-run space agency has done so using data obtained from it's own earth observation satellites that are continuously monitoring the planet, from Geostationary orbit (36,000 kms above the earth's equator). WION spoke to Dr. K. Sivan, Chairman, ISRO for more on this project. Earlier this week, addressing his counterparts at the COP26 Global Climate Summit at Glasgow, Indian Prime Minister Narendra... Read more..

Prime Minister’s remarks at the session on ‘Accelerating Clean Technology Innovation and Deployment’ at COP26 Summit in Glasgow: Launch of 'One Sun, One World, One Grid'

Excellencies
Namaskar!

Today, you are all welcome at the launch of 'One Sun, One World, One Grid'. With the initiatives from the International Solar Alliance and the UK's Green Grid Initiative, my many-year-old vision of 'One Sun, One World, One Grid' got a concrete shape today. Excellencies, the industrial revolution was fuelled by fossil fuels. Many countries have prospered by the use of fossil fuels, but our earth, our environment have become poor. The race for fossil fuels also created... Read more..