Low Carbon News in India in June 2014
India to Strengthen Climate Change Negotiation Team
India will strengthen its climate change negotiation team and will do “better homework” before discussing with all stakeholders, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Monday.
Fresh from India’s “success” at the Nairobi environment conference, Mr Javadekar said the country has decided to “reposition” its role in the global stage on climate change issues by intensely “lobbying” for a “good strategic relationship” with like-minded nations on the matter. “And we will do more meaningful representation in the world events,” Mr Javadekar said.
He was speaking after leading the Indian delegation in the first session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) of the United Nations Environment Programme held at the UNEP headquarters in Nairobi last week.
He said the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC to be held in Paris in 2015 was “very important” and it is one year window in which the post Kyoto Protocol will be decided.
“From 2020, the new protocol will start….We will strengthen our Climate Change negotiation team,” the Minister said. Speaking about the Nairobi Environment Conference, he said India lobbied with Arab countries, G-77 plus China and BRICS to defeat the US position that Rio principles should not be made part of its final outcome document, official sources said here today. Mr Javadekar said unlike the past UN Climate Conferences, India will organise side events and dinner meetings to highlight the world’s largest democracy’s role in tackling the Climate Change.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/india-to-strengthen-climate-change-negotiation-team-550634
Japan to Offer Green Tech to India to Cut Carbon Emissions
Japan is set to offer its cutting-edge green technologies to India to combat climate change and help reduce emissions which would earn Japanese firms carbon credits, a report has said. Japan plans to sign an agreement on green technologies with India at next month’s summit meeting in Tokyo between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.
The deal will allow Japanese companies to earn carbon credits by helping the emerging Asian giant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Nikkei newspaper reported.
The report said that under the joint crediting mechanism (JCM), “Japanese companies, using their state-of-the-art environmental technologies, will be able to earn carbon credits in return for helping developing countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Japanese companies will be allowed to count the carbon credits as reductions in their own greenhouse gas emissions or sell them to the Japanese government. Japan hopes that the planned launch of the JCM with India will not only help India cut greenhouse gases but also create new business opportunities for Japanese companies there and help boost the Japanese economy.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/japan-to-offer-green-tech-to-india-to-cut-carbon-emissions-543337
India invokes ‘right to grow’ to tell rich nations of its stand on future climate change negotiations
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In what may be a strong signal to rich nations on the issue of climate change, New Delhi on Tuesday said the developing countries, including India, have a “right to grow” and in the process their “net emission (of greenhouse gases) may increase”.
Though India reiterated its commitment to reduce emissions, it made its preference clear. It said the country cannot address the challenges of climate change unless it eradicates poverty through economic growth.
Underlining that the problem of emission has not been created by the developing nations and hence responsibility for addressing it should not be solely put on them, environment minister Prakash Javadekar said, “We have to reduce our carbon emissions. But, I (India) have not created the carbon emission problems, which have been done by others. But I am not into any blame game. The issue is that I have a right to grow. India and developing countries have right to grow. These are the emerging economies”.
Noting that poverty is an “environmental disaster”, Javadekar said “unless we tackle poverty, unless we eradicate poverty, we cannot really address the climate change.”The remark is expected to further strengthen the resolve of the BASIC group of nations on the issue of climate change.
India Leads the Way in Combating Climate Change: Time Magazine
India is leading the way in efforts to combat the challenges of global warming while skeptical Americans still question climate change, according to a new global survey by Time magazine. Of the six countries polled, Indians were the likeliest to express deep concerns about energy and consumption and were the most committed to conservation and the most optimistic about their ability to reduce emissions.
More than 9 in 10 Indians reported that conservation issues were “very important” to them, compared to 68 percent overall, the US news magazine’s survey about attitudes toward energy found.
Indians were more than twice as willing to pay more for clean energy as residents of Brazil, Germany, Turkey, South Korea or the US. “But Indians reported the most comprehensive approach to energy conservation, with 8 in 10 Indians reporting that they have altered their personal habits to curb consumption,” Time said. “Indians are the likeliest of the six nations surveyed to carpool, take public transportation, and walk rather than ride in a vehicle.
More than 60 percent of Indians say they believe the world can slash carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050, compared to 37 percent of respondents overall. The survey was conducted among 3,505 online respondents equally divided between the US, Brazil, Germany, Turkey, India and Korea.
Surprise jump in Indian REC demand, traded volume jumps 4.5 times
The 40th trading session of the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) was concluded on 25th June at the Indian Energy Exchange Limited (IEX) in New Delhi and the Power Exchange India Limited (PXIL) in Mumbai. Of the total solar RECs offered for trading, about 0.7% were redeemed (down from 1% in the previous session) and 2% of the non-solar RECs offered for trading were cleared (up from 0.4% in the previous session). The total transaction value at both the exchanges was about Rs 22.45 crore, an increase by 3.3 times over the previous session.
Solar power capacity under Indian REC scheme tops 500 MW
Solar power capacity under India’s Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) scheme has crossed a major milestone with the accredited capacity reaching 500 MW. The total solar power capacity under the scheme now represents almost a fifth of the total solar power capacity installed in India.
A total of 4826 MW capacity has been accredited under the REC scheme as on 12 June 2014. Solar power capacity has a share of 10.5% in this capacity. Solar PV and solar thermal power together rank fourth in terms of the leading renewable technologies with accredited capacity under the scheme. Solar power technology would soon overtake biomass and then biofuel cogeneration to become the second largest contributor to the scheme
India in world’s top five nations in solar power capacity
India is among the world’s top five nations in concentrated solar power (CSP) technology capacity rankings topped by the US, according to a new report.
India is placed fourth, ahead of China, in the rankings recently released in a report by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21 Century (Ren21), an international multi-policy stakeholder network that promotes rapid global transition to renewable energy.
The report said although the US and Spain were the market leaders in CSP, investment in the technology was growing most rapidly in regions that receive high amounts of daily sunshine.
Global CSP capacity has increased 10-fold World-wide since 2004 and surged 36 per cent last year to a total of 3.4 gigawatts generated.
Tata Power crosses 500MW renewable energy capacity
Tata Power recently crossed the milestone of 500MW renewable energy capacity with the commissioning of solar plant at Palaswadi in Maharashtra.
“This achievement is in line with the company’s commitment to have a 20-25 per cent contribution in energy generated from clean power sources that includes a mix of hydro, solar, wind, geothermal, and waste gas generation,” said an official.
Tata Power has a total operating capacity of 460.6MW from wind farms and 54MW in solar generation. In addition the Company has 447 of hydro and 202.5MW from waste gas based generation.
India plans to introduce high speed trains
The railways are working on two proposals—introducing trains with speed of more than 300 kmph on dedicated corridors and running trains at speed of 130-150 kmph on the existing tracks. An official said railway minister Sadanand Gowda is keen on the proposals aimed at fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of constructing a “diamond quadrilateral” of high-speed trains and ensuring world-class facilities for passengers. These trains would save 30% energy while passenger carrying capacity will be enhance by 25-30%
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Railway-budget-may-introduce-bullet-trains/articleshow/37109291.cms