Sustainability Outlook Headlines

Intertek Launches Carbon Off-Set Program for Clients

Intertek, the leading international provider of quality and safety services, today launched a programme to offer its clients carbon-offsets for its auditing services in China. It is the start of a staged global roll-out by the company to enable its clients to measure and offset the carbon dioxide (CO2) generated through their use of Intertek’s services.

Multinational companies are increasingly trying to quantify their total CO2 footprint across their complex global supply chains and create effective emissions reduction off-set programmes. Measuring the footprint of their multiple... Read more..

Funds tap into GCC’s carbon market

As news of some clean development mechanism projects initiated by the GCC governments begins to spread, funds managed by banks and financial institutions are descending on the region to tap CERs, or Certified Emission Reduction units, that can be traded on European climate exchanges.

The GCC as a source of CERs is still at a fledgling stage and cannot be compared to Europe or even to China and India.

“You have funds trying to tap into the CERs from the GCC. These funds are managed by professional bodies and they may have banks and financial institutions behind them,” said... Read more..

TERI meet to promote green buildings

With an annual increase in the built-up area of residential and commercial buildings by 10 per cent, the projected annual increase in the energy demand is 5.4 billion kWh. The need of the hour is to design and construct ‘high performance buildings’ so that the use of electricity can be controlled.

Aiming at this lofty target, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Power, Government of India and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) will host a training programme and industry meet on ‘High performance commercial buildings in India’.
The workshop is a result of... Read more..

Solar firms rush for sunny sites

Entrepreneurs are rushing to buy land at Guntur, Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda districts to set up solar projects that will get more than 80 per cent subsidy from the ministry for renewable energy (MNRE).

The solar energy policy announced by the Centre has identified nine districts in the state as most suitable for solar power projects. Of these, Guntur, Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda have been identified for setting up new units where the sun shines for more than 300 days a year.

Firms are scrambling to buy land as the MNRE has stated that those with their own land can apply.
“... Read more..

Cidco gets ready with green report

State environment ministry and the Cidco are making a last-ditch effort to convince the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) about the environmental feasibility of the proposed airport in Navi Mumbai; the Cidco will explain their plans of widening and diverting rivers, Ulve and Gadhi, and planting mangroves on 350-400 hectares of land in Dahanu and Palghar as a compensatory step for cutting the trees on 162 hectares in Panvel.

The state environment department and Cidco will meet on Monday to discuss the various environmental parameters involved in the project and to... Read more..

NMC bus service for Kalmeshwar starts

Catering to the needs of commuters in rural parts of the district, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) on Sunday started city bus service for Kalmeshwar. It was just a few days back that bus service for industrial township Butibori was started by the civic body. Patansavangi (Waki) is next on the list.

At present, the NMC has 290 buses, including 210 big and 80 mini, which ply on 60 routes. Recently, 60 standard buses sanctioned under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) joined the fleet. About 22 more buses will join the fleet in the next few days.

“... Read more..

Melting ice fields pose serious threat to water supply in Asia

There are fears that in 25 years, 80 per cent of local glaciers will vanish as warming bites, writes  CLIFFORD COONAN in Tibet

LOCAL PEOPLE selling trinkets and prayer flags at the Karola Pass in Tibet are looking nervously at the glacier behind, which has melted halfway up the mountain because of global warming. The ice fields at the roof of the world are shrinking.

“It keeps getting smaller,” said one man, dressed in traditional Tibetan garb, anxiously eyeing the spectacular natural phenomenon that is his livelihood.

Meanwhile, in the Tibetan provincial capital,... Read more..

Climate-change movie suffers without disaster footage

No longer content to simply present persuasive data models using PowerPoint as in "The Inconvenient Truth," films like "The Age of Stupid" and "Climate Refugees" are demonstrating the devastating relationships between contemporary natural catastrophes and the effects of global warming. The challenge these films face is to illustrate the increasingly dire impacts of climate shifts while remaining focused and level-headed enough to convince viewers about the significance of the issue before disaster fatigue sets in.

Unfortunately, a rather alarmist tone pervading "Climate Refugees"... Read more..

Water Supply, Air Pollution Most Pressing Issues For Cities, Say Participants At Singapore's World Cites Summit

Clean and adequate water and clean air rank as among the current top concerns for some cities around the world - with waste management, jobs, housing, and balancing development and the environment identified as the next most pressing issues today. That is the response from a sampling of city leaders and urban planners who attended Singapore's World Cities Summit 2010, held June 28-July 1. The group surveyed represents cities on four continents and in both developed and developing nations, including Australia, France, India, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, the United States, and... Read more..

India, China to work together on projects in other countries

Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi indicated on Sunday that China and India were focusing on a rapid expansion in business collaboration in order to strengthen the feel-good factor that would help them tackle several irritants that lie in the way of a sound and stable relationship. The two countries have largely enhanced mutual political trust and were looking forward to a stronger bonding, he said.

Emerging out of a long meeting with NSA Shivshankar Menon, Yang said the discussions went ''very, very well with the two sides making a tour of the whole horizon of bilateral... Read more..

New push for solar-energy projects in Asia

The Asian Development Bank is leading the establishment of a nonprofit organization to promote the large-scale development of solar energy in Asia, a senior ADB official said this week.

The ADB will unveil the plan at the inaugural Asia Solar Energy Forum it is holding in Manila from Monday, S. Chander, who chairs the ADB's energy committee, told Kyodo News.

The move closely follows the ADB's announcement at its annual general meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in May of a $9 billion Asian Solar Energy Initiative to develop around 3 gigawatts of solar power in the Asia-Pacific... Read more..

UN panel recommendation may make India lose half carbon credits

A United Nations panel recommendation this week to change carbon credits calculating methodology for hydroflourocarbons (HFCs) can result in India losing half of its credits valid till 2012.

Certified Emissions Reduction Units (CERs), also called carbon credits, for the destruction of hydroflourocarbons (HFC) represent over 80 percent of the total credits issued till date under UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to India. HFC has highest credit value, as a tonne of HFC emission saved means 11,700 carbon credits earned.

A coalition of green groups working under the banner... Read more..