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Energy - Down To Earth

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Down To Earth •

India will continue to rely on coal to meet its rising electricity demand through 2026: IEA

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the target to achieve net zero by 2070 in 2021. The IEA report titled Electricity 2024, though, noted that coal will continue to dominate the Indian power sector through 2026. This, despite an expected fall from 74 per cent of total electricity generation in 2023.Renewable generation remained relatively stable, with a 21 per cent share of electricity generation in 2023. The rise in solar and wind was largely offset by reduced hydropower output, the repo...
Down To Earth •

MNRE launches scheme to incentivise production of green hydrogen

The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has recently published guidelines and incentives to promote the procurement of green hydrogen as part of the National Green Hydrogen Mission.Under the mission, Rs 17,490 crore has been set aside for the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (SIGHT) programme, to bolster domestic electrolyser manufacturing and green hydrogen production. These incentives are designed to facilitate cost reduction and rapid expansion.Implemented u...
Down To Earth •

India’s green hydrogen offtake in ‘wait-and-watch’ phase: WEF calls for increased subsidy to help lower cost

Green hydrogen production needs to reach a cost-parity with grey hydrogen in India to meet the target outlined in the National Green Hydrogen Mission of producing at least 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen per annum by 2030. Today, the production costs of green hydrogen amount to roughly $4-5 per kilogramme, equivalent to approximately double the price of grey hydrogen. About 50-70 per cent of expenditure is allocated towards round-the-clock (RTC) renewable electricity and the remaining 30-50 p...
Down To Earth •

Parliamentary panel recommends FAME-II scheme’s extension by at least 3 more years

In May, the government reduced the FAME-II subsidy on electric two-wheelers registered on or after June 1, 2023. The earlier incentive of 40 per cent on the ex-factory price of electric two-wheelers was reduced to 15 per cent. The demand incentive for electric two-wheelers was reduced to Rs 10,000 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) from Rs 15,000 / kWh.“The committee is of the opinion that in order to facilitate the transition momentum to electric mobility, more number of electric vehicles need to be suppo...
Down To Earth •

Think tanks, civil society caution that ‘fossil fuels’ mention in GST is riddled with loopholes

The latest text adopted at the 28th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) emphasises the need to transition away “from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly, and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science”.Sunita Narain, director-general of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said: “The inclusion of fossil fuels in the GST is an important startin...
Down To Earth •

Less than 8% of India’s coal power plants can control SO2 emissions, a new analysis finds

Less than eight per cent of India’s coal-based power plants have installed the technology recommended by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to keep sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions in check, an analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) has found. Flue Gas Desulfurisation (FGD) units are used to remove sulphur compounds from the exhaust emissions of power plants. India is the largest emitter of SO2 in the world, according to a 2019 Green...
Down To Earth •

In whose interest? Close to 2,500 fossil fuel lobbyists present at COP28 climate talks, reveals analysis

A new analysis has presented a conflict of interest at the ongoing  28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Dubai, United Arab Emirates — there’s a record attendance of fossil fuel lobbyists at the climate summit.At least 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists were on the list of provisional participants on the UNFCCC website, found climate movement Kick Big Polluters Out’s in-depth study. The coalition of 450 organisations across the globe called...
Down To Earth •

COP28: Relying on carbon capture and storage to reach Net Zero would be economically damaging, shows Oxford report

The costs were calculated with the help of data already in use for two pathways envisioned for varying amounts of carbon captured and stored. When it came to developing scenarios to make the assessment, they used the same ones developed for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report.According to the low-CCS pathway envisaged by the researchers, 4.4 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (GtCO2) on average in 2050 would be mitigated compared to an average of 19.2 GtCO2 in the h...
Down To Earth •

COP28 UAE: Methane Alert and Response System alerted governments of 127 plumes spanning four continents

The Methane Alert and Response System (MARS) notified governments of 127 plumes spanning four continents and identified 1,500 plumes in its pilot stage. This is according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released at the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on December 1, 2023. UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) launched MARS, the first-ever global system that uses satellite data to monitor maj...
Down To Earth •

India needs a surplus of $101 billion in investment to triple RE targets, finds report

The country requires an investment of $293 billion between 2023 and 2030 to meet the NEP14 solar and wind capacity targets, including storage and transmission. The financing will be essential to put India on track to more than triple its renewable capacity by 2030s, the report estimated. “The share of non-fossil-based capacity is likely to increase to 57.4 per cent by the end of 2026-27 and may likely further increase to 68.4 per cent by the end of 2031-32 from around 42.5 per cent as of April 2...
Down To Earth •

India, Indonesia, Bangladesh & Vietnam host to most under-construction coal projects worldwide: Report

Outside of China, as of October, the latest report identified 110 gigawatts (GW) of coal power capacity under consideration in 32 countries, amounting to 131 coal projects. Ten countries comprise 83 per cent of the total capacity proposed, led by three countries, namely India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, according to a quarterly update of GEM’s Global Coal Plant Tracker.“Coal plant projects are considered “shelved” when no updates or developments have been identified on the proposed projects for...
Down To Earth •

Governments worldwide spent $1.7 trillion of public money on fossil fuels, a new report finds

Overall, fossil fuel subsidies expanded in 2022, to reach $1.3 trillion, but this number is likely to be higher. The paper pointed out the data was not painting the whole picture as it was based on the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) definition of “explicit subsidies”, when governments cap retail prices below the international market price of a fuel.In India, the explicit subsidy applies to the Ujjwala scheme and for fuel in remote locations. The country ranked fourth among countries worldwi...
Down To Earth •

US treasury supports international financing of gas-fired power plants despite government restrictions

The investigation by Friends of the Earth US, an American environmental non-profit, found that two of the plants in Mozambique, one in Bangladesh, and one in Uzbekistan at a cost of $400 million do not align with the goals of the Paris Agreement as they emit an estimated combined total of over 6,000,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e).After the Treasury’s Guidance was issued on August 16, 2021, the US  still voted to support $236.8 million in Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency...
Down To Earth •

COP28 Presidency: Triple renewable energy capacity, double energy efficiency by 2030 to limit global warming

The report by the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) Presidency, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Global Renewables Alliance was launched on the sidelines of a pre-COP event in Abu Dhabi.“The Global Stocktake has told us exactly how far off track we are. We need to cut 22 gigatonnes of greenhouse gases in the next seven years in order to keep 1.5°C within reach. The phase-down of fossil fuels is inevitable and essential, but it must be responsible,” CO...
Down To Earth •

Improving utilities’ finances, workforce investment could better grid establishment to integrate renewables: IEA

The world’s first stocktake of electricity grids by the International Energy Agency (IEA), to assess where the grids stand in limiting global warming to 1.5°C, found that 3,000 gigawatts of renewable energy projects worldwide are waiting in queue to be integrated into their country’s electricity grids.Worryingly, 1,500 GW projects of those solar and wind projects are at the final stages of development before they can be operationalised and grids are essential to decarbonise electricity supply an...
Down To Earth •

By 2050 Coal India Limited may have to lay off 73,800 jobs: Global Energy Monitor

GEM's Global Coal Mine Tracker is a database of coal mines' operational time remaining based on existing leases, permits, available reserves, and other economic considerations, referred to as the "life of mine" (LOM). When that information is unavailable, GEM collects data on reserves-to-production ratios, which are used in the industry to determine how long a mine can extract coal at its current output, the organisation explained.According to projected closure dates, nearly 990,200 coal mine jo...
Down To Earth •

India’s annual solar capacity addition needs to increase annually by 36% till 2026-27 to meet 14th NEP targets

India needs to increase its current annual solar capacity addition by about 36 per cent each year for the country to achieve the 14th National Electricity Plan’s targets of 185.6 gigawatts of solar capacity by the financial year 2026-27, according to a new report by global energy think tank Ember.However, this will still be insufficient to meet the 14th NEP’s outlined target for FY 2026-27 of 185.6 GW. So the country needs to commission a minimum of 17.5 GW in FY 2024, with a further ramp-up to...
Down To Earth •

International Shipping emissions increased by 20% in the last decade: UNCTAD

Containerised trade, which had declined by 3.7 per cent in 2022, is expected to grow by 1.2 per cent in 2023 and grow further by three per cent between 2024-2028. Oil and gas trade volumes showed robust growth in 2022, while tanker freight rates saw a strong revival driven by geopolitical events, the report stated.Early in January 2023, commercial ships were on average 22.2 years old and more than half of the world’s fleet is over 15 years old. As the average age of the world fleet is increasing...
Down To Earth •

EU Parliament votes in favour of Critical Raw Materials Act 

The Critical Raw Materials Act was voted on in the European Parliament during the September 11-14, 2023, plenary session in Strasbourg, France. It was approved with a large majority of 515 Members of the European Parliament (MEP) backing it.German MEP Nicola Beer, the driving force behind the law, said in the parliament that the EU was 99 per cent dependent on China for rare earth metals.“We cannot allow that to be the case.”Such dependencies create a high risk of supply disruptions and increase...
Down To Earth •

Crackdown on sand mafia: ED raids across Tamil Nadu over money laundering, tax evasion

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has cracked down on illegal sand mining in Tamil Nadu. The agency is currently raiding more than 25 locations across the state over allegations of money laundering and tax evasion with connections to the sand mafia under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.Sand mining sites and sales depots managed by the state water resources department were being searched on September 12, 2023 by the ED at Trichy, Namakkal, Vellore, Pudukottai and Karur, among other lo...
Down To Earth •

G20 nations agree to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030

Not changing the language and the status quo regarding the phasing-down of fossil fuel from last year, the document called for “accelerating efforts towards the phasedown of unabated coal power, in line with national circumstances and recognising the need for support towards just transitions”.In a first, the G20 noted, “the need of $5.8-5.9 trillion in the pre-2030 period required for developing countries, in particular for their needs to implement their Nationally Determined Contributions.”“Whi...
Down To Earth •

G20 Summit: India launches Global Biofuel Alliance

Monish Ahuja, Chairman of the Confederation of Biomass Energy Industry of India told Down to Earth (DTE), “India has taken the lead along with the USA and Brazil to be the founders of the Global Biofuel Alliance on similar lines set up by the International Solar Alliance.”“There is a concerted push to develop a biofuel economy all around the world. It is a fantastic initiative, where India is stepping up in the global order to accomplish this. We are saying we will do it ourselves while guiding...
Down To Earth •

G20 nations provided a record $1.4 trillion in support of fossil fuels last year

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of last year caused an energy price crisis, which led to G20 governments cushioning the effects on the fossil fuel industry and consumers to the tune of $1.4 trillion.This support perpetuates the world’s reliance on fossil fuels, paving the way for yet more energy crises due to market volatility and geopolitical security risks, the report titled Fanning the Flames: G20 provides record financial support for fossil fuels warned.A third of the amount was cat...
Down To Earth •

MNRE should get approval for revised policy on repowering wind power projects: Standing Committee

The Twenty-Seventh Report of the evaluation was presented to the Lok Sabha on August 2, 2022 and was laid on the table of the Rajya Sabha on the same day. The Ministry of New and Energy (MNRE)’s replies to the observations and recommendations were received on April 24, 2023.The MNRE stated that it had revised the ‘Policy for Repowering of the Wind Power Projects’ issued on August 5, 2016 and it had been circulated for stakeholders’ comments on October 17, 2022.“As it has been more than nine mont...
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Down To Earth •

Many provinces experiencing highest emissions since 2003: Scientist monitoring Canadian wildfires

Throughout Canada, more than 400 wildfires have led to mass evacuation across the country. While every year, Canada experiences a wildfire season between May and October, this level of destruction is unprecedented and is touted to be the worst in history.“Persistent hot and dry conditions are fanning the flames of Canadian wildfires. So far this spring, wildfires in Canada have scorched an area more than 10 times larger than average,” the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the...
Down To Earth •

Critically polluted: Kolak fisherfolk in distress as chemicals from Vapi industries destroy river catch

The villagers suspected the coloured water is released into the river by the textile industries upstream. When the villagers inquired, representatives of industries they spoke to shifted the blame to the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) region located in the Vapi Industrial Area some 16 kilometers away.“Due to the abundance of fish available in the past, we could make do with low prices. Now,  with inflation coupled with fish population decline, the price of Rs 400 per / kg make...
Down To Earth •

Critically polluted: Treated effluents from Vapi CETP don’t meet safety standards, find pollution control boards

In the inspection conducted from July-September 2022, it was observed that compared to the prescribed safety norms, the treatment of fixed dissolved solids (FDS), chloride and sulphate at Vapi CETP was not up to the mark and carried out with negligence at both the inlet and the outlet.Karthik M, senior principal scientist at National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), was part of the committee in 2018 that looked at the Vapi CETP’s contribution to pollution in the Daman Ganga...
Down To Earth •

New policy to help Indian communities displaced by annual river & coastal erosion drafted

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs had directed NDMA to draft a policy based on the 15th Finance Commission’s report for 2021, in which it had for the first time emphasised on rehabilitation and resettlement for people displaced by the river and coastal erosion, in view of the increasing threat due to climate change. Until now, most policies in the country only address displacement after sudden rapid-onset disasters such as floods and cyclones. Over the last two years, NDMA held national-level c...
Down To Earth •

Grasslands, forests and glaciers decreased in the Kedarnath-Joshimath region over 3 decades

“In view of frequent extreme climatic-geomorphic events, temporally increasing population and tourist pressure, and temporally changing climatic conditions, it is vital to identify hotspots having dominant changes in land use/land cover to understand the possible source of potential disasters,” they added.In 1991, nearly 4,316 sq km was the total extent of the moderately dense forest area captured via satellite imagery. In 2020, it decreased to around 3,856 sq km and 10.6 per cent of this was ob...
Down To Earth •

Over 60% of Indian firms can identify, manage climate-related market risks, finds study

Extreme weather events and natural disasters have become frequent in Asian countries due to climate change. Companies in India are increasingly aware of its financial impact, but a new analysis by a global advisory firm suggests that many lack the tools to manage climate risk. A large number of Indian companies listed on stock exchanges — 61 per cent — have the mechanisms in place to assess, identify and manage climate risk, found a new study by Willis Towers Watson (WTW). The firm has also laun...
Down To Earth •

This Pune non-profit led by women bagged an award at COP27 for climate adaptation

Pune-based non-profit Swayam Shikshan Prayog was recognised for its efforts in helping women farmers in the Marathwada region adopt climate-resilient agricultural practices for over two decades at the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27).The organisation partners with the government and agro-tech companies, but the KSS women are the educators on the ground. In 2015, they collaborated with the Government of Maharashtra to scale up Mah...
Down To Earth •

Loss and damage from floods, storms cost India $7.6 bn in 2021: Report

India suffered huge economic losses from floods and storms in 2021 as climate change has made these events more frequent. The country was only second to China in the Asian continent in this regard, according to the recently released The State of the Climate in Asia 2021 report.Floods and storms accounted for 80 per cent of the natural disasters that struck Asia in 2021. Asian countries incurred financial losses worth $35.6 billion (nearly 2.9 lakh crores) in 2021 because of natural disasters. Fl...
Down To Earth •

Triple tremors in Delhi: ‘We should always be prepared for a big earthquake’

Harsh Kumar Gupta: If you remember, we had an earthquake on the India-Nepal border on April 25, 2015 of 7.8 magnitude. Seventeen days later, the region experienced another earthquake of 7.3 on May 12 and the aftershocks continued for quite some time after that. One major problem in seismology is we cannot say for sure if some activity is an aftershock or foreshock. Furthermore, it cannot be ruled out that these are independent quakes on their own too. One cannot make any conclusions.For the Delh...
Down To Earth •

Tremors in Delhi-NCR again after fresh quake in Nepal

A screen grab of the map tweeted by the National Center for Seismology, New Delhi, showing the epicentre of the quake in Nepal on November 12An earthquake of magnitude of 5.4 occurred November 12, 2022 at 7.57 pm in Nepal, the National Center for Seismology (NCS), the nodal agency of the Government of India for monitoring earthquake activity in the country, said. Consequently, tremors were felt across the National Capital Region and Delhi simultaneously.The Press of Trust of India reported that...
Down To Earth •

Receding cryosphere: What latest WMO report warns us about

The global mean temperature is currently at 1.15 degrees Celcius above pre-industrial (1850-1900) levels and the last eight consecutive years were the eight hottest years of humanity, said a new report.It was the first time that “no snow outlasted the summer season even at the very highest measurement sites and thus no accumulation of fresh ice occurred,” the WMO said.The lack of adequate winter snow and Saharan dust blowing over the Alps accelerated the same this year. Heat waves between May an...
Down To Earth •

Run-up to COP27: Extreme weather events drive mass migration in Odisha’s Kendrapara, Jharkhand’s Palamu, says study

Rapid-onset events, like floods, increased the odds of migrating by 687 per cent. At the same time, slow-onset events, like drought, increased the likelihood by 172 per cent, noted the study by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), a non-profit.Some 60 per cent of the respondents in Kendrapara said rapid-onset events are a major climate stressor. At the same time, 87 per cent in Palamu stated that slow-onset events were the reasons for the same.Only 0.47 per cent of...
Down To Earth •

Fewer cyclones in Bay of Bengal but frequency increased in Arabian Sea: Report

“One thing in the atmosphere that inhibits the growth of cyclones is called the vertical shear, which refers to how strongly the winds can change from the surface to the top of the atmosphere, for up to 10 kilometres or so. It determines if the cyclone, which is trying to grow like a tunnel, gets chopped off or not. If it does, then its energy gets taken away and it doesn’t grow into a strong cyclone,” Murtugudde said.The researchers found that 49.8 per cent of tropical cyclones occurred from Oc...
Down To Earth •

Why cyclones like Sitrang stoke fear? Loss & damage worth billions due to Indian Ocean storms

The Indian subcontinent, however, is not new to this extent of damage due to cyclonic storms. Of the 17 strongest storms of each year between 2005 to 2021 formed over the northern Indian Ocean, 11 had devastating effects in India, with loss from each running into billions of dollars.A storm that hit the Nagaon district of Assam damaged several houses, according to ANI. The estimated maximum sustained wind speed of intensity along and off the North and South 24 Parganas, including the Sunderbans...
Down To Earth •

How to assess disasters: 8 Indian states adopt global standards

An international framework for assessing losses and damages in the aftermath of a disaster is now being used to evaluate the financial and social cost of local disasters in eight states in India. The framework helps get recovery and reconstruction efforts right following a disaster. But this is not the first time PDNA has been conducted in India. It was first adopted during the Kerala floods of 2018 and again during the cyclone in Odisha in 2019, both unprecedented disasters.  However, until now...
Down To Earth •

Hazards in waiting: Half the world still without early warning systems, flags UN report

The analysis was made with data from the Sendai Framework Monitor (SFM), an online tool where member countries report their progress on the targets outlined in The Sendai Framework (2015-2030). The framework is a global blueprint for disaster risk reduction and prevention. Of the seven targets in the framework, Target G aims to “substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to the people by 2030”. The fra...
Down To Earth •

Climate crisis: Expect more extreme heatwaves in near future

The global mean temperature was close to 1°C  between 2017 and 2019. However, the global mean temperature was at 1.2°C in 2016 and 2020, according to data on the global surface temperature compiled by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration between 2016 and 2021.“Hot extremes” have become recurrent and more severe over the earth’s land since the 1950s, according to the Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.No one is prote...
Down To Earth •

Loss and damage from climate crisis needs urgent intervention from rich countries: UN chief

United Nations Secretary-General has urged the rich countries to step up their climate adaptation financing and sought urgent discussions on loss and damage due to the climate crisis. Antonio Guterres was visiting Karachi, Pakistan, which was devastated by floods recently. The condition in Pakistan is “an epic human tragedy”, Guterres said in a statement. “Climate change is not a problem of the future. It is a problem today,” he said. “And that is why I said in my intervention, and I repeat now,...
Down To Earth •

Bengaluru floods: City’s stormwater drains are not good enough & government has known it for long

Recent images of water-logged Bengaluru may have led to much surprise, but that may be misplaced: A report nine years ago had flagged that India’s so-called 'Silicon Valley’ could go under even due to moderate rain — the stormwater drains of the Karnataka capital are just not up to the mark.Unlike the rest of Bengaluru, at an elevation of 3,020 feet, these areas are relatively flatter and have been at the epicentre of rapid development.Some 0.017 billion residential properties in Bengaluru have...
Down To Earth •

Only 10 of 46 Least Developed Countries mention loss and damage explicitly in NDCs: Study

The LDC is a 46-member negotiating bloc of geographically and economically disadvantaged countries whose main ask is compensation for losses and damages incurred after storms, droughts, and floods at COPs. A key outcome of CoP26 was the establishment of the Glasgow Dialogues, a two-year exchange on ways to figure out how to fund L&D for low-income countries.Myanmar’s NDC has got whole sections detailing how L&D affects sectors such as agriculture or fisheries, cities and health. It also has an a...
Down To Earth •

Integrated risk assessment of dams required to prevent human-made disasters: Experts

The recent floods in the Mahanadi basin in Odisha have brought to the fore, the faulty management of dams, which were built to mitigate floods and not be the cause of them.Most of the Mahanadi river catchment, where the Hirakud dam is located, is in Chhattisgarh. Adequate intimation from Chhattisgarh dam authorities on the amount of water that would come gushing out was not given, authorities in Odisha had told DTE previously.“Existing dams, where no new engineering activity is planned, are not...
Down To Earth •

Monsoon report card: Rainfall deficit in 8 states, excess in 8 others

Generally, the southwest monsoon winds slowly withdraw from north India in the third week of September. But like last year, the summer monsoon may not recede by October and there might be confusion between the summer and winter monsoon season rains, Raghu Murtugudde, a climate scientist at the University of Maryland, told Down To Earth.Several districts have had an extreme change in rainfall patterns over the last two weeks. As many as 163 districts went from witnessing excess rainfall to defici...
Down To Earth •

Just 3 of every 1,000 queries in Lok Sabha during last 2 decades on climate change: Study

Climate change is a technical and research-oriented subject; politicians are unable to see how it affects decisions in their constituencies, commercially, economically and socially. This is why they have failed to pick up this issue, she added.“In these two years, questions were not related to the NAPCC and the change in the Ministry’s name as such. The overall interest in climate change piqued with these external events,” lead author Seema Mundoli, senior lecturer at Azim Premji University’s sc...
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