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CLIMATE CRISIS

Climate change and nuclear power: the denials, delusions and deceptions of Modi

21st September 2017

Kumar Sundaram writes in The Ecologist: Dubbing nuclear energy as a solution to climate change has been a key strategy of the Indian government for selling nuclear projects to the public as well as justifying the spree of nuclear agreements with other countries. Here are three reasons why this is not feasible, desirable and cost-effective….

CLIMATE CRISIS

China, India become climate leaders as West falters

27th May 2017

Climate Central reports: Two years after the Paris climate accord, climate policies are advancing in developing countries but stalling or regressing in richer ones. Here’s a trip around the world, assessing how pro-climate and anti-climate forces are faring in key nations and regions, showing how recent developments are affecting the languishing fight against global warming….

CLIMATE CRISIS

India’s outsized coal plans would wipe out Paris climate goals

21st May 2017

The Wire reports: If India builds all its proposed coal-based power plants, then it might not fulfill its promise made under the Paris climate agreement, says a new study conducted by CoalSwarm. The country is currently the fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, and its largely-coal-based energy sector contributes two-thirds of those emissions….

Amit Dave/Reuters

CLIMATE CRISIS

Why increasing India’s solar energy capacity won’t work

23rd April 2017

From The Wire: The planned ten-fold increase in solar energy will add on an average only 20% of the total capacity, making little difference to India’s emissions. The government has not reduced its coal output targets and plans to raise coal output from the current 550 million tonnes to nearly a billion tonnes by 2022….

CLIMATE CRISIS

Why is India holding out on the Paris Climate Agreement?

30th September 2016

Global Risk Insights reports: Recent developments suggest that India has been seeking to leverage its ratification of the Paris Agreement. Specifically, the Modi Government has claimed it will only be able to meet emissions reduction targets if it rapidly expands its capacity to produce nuclear energy, which would be difficult to achieve without NSG membership. Global…

CLIMATE CRISIS

India charts a roadmap to achieve ambitious solar targets

9th September 2016

Katherine Ross reports: Last month’s release of India’s ambitious year-on-year solar energy capacity targets chart a roadmap for achieving the country’s 2022 goal. This sequence of yearly targets—as opposed to an assumed growth trend between current capacity and targeted capacity—shows that India is making concerted plans to reach its goals announced at the Paris talks….

CLIMATE CRISIS

Study: Paris climate goals fall way short of what’s necessary

5th July 2016

Chris Mooney reports: A large team of researchers have reviewed individual country climate pledges made at the Paris talks to conclude that they fall short, forecasting that the full carbon “budget” that we’ve left to emit if we want to stay below 2 degrees Celsius of warming could be emitted by as early as 2030….

CLIMATE CRISIS

NEWS UPDATE #83

17th February 2016

Common Dreams reports: A new analysis, published in Science Advances journal, reveals that global water scarcity is a far greater problem than previously thought, affecting 4 billion people—two-thirds of the world’s population. Previous analyses looked at water scarcity at an annual scale, and had found that water scarcity affected between 1.7 and 3.1 billion people….

CLIMATE CRISIS

India’s INDCs and the road to Paris – 5

29th November 2015

(Note: In this series of posts, we take a closer look at India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), ahead of the Paris climate talks. This concluding post primarily examines trends in India’s energy consumption, which is what will primarily determine whether we can meet our climate targets or not. Also read: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of…

CLIMATE CRISIS

NEWS UPDATE #74 (Climate special)

26th November 2015

Climate change makes past five-year period the warmest on record: WMO The Guardian Climate change made 2011-2015 the warmest five-year period on record, according to the World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) state of the global climate report. This year is set to be the single hottest ever registered, with planetary temperatures passing the symbolic milestone of 1C…

CLIMATE CRISIS

India’s INDCs and the road to Paris – 4

20th November 2015

(Note: In this series of posts, we take a closer look at India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) and its larger context, ahead of the Paris climate talks. Also read: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of the series) Consumption injurious to the planet’s health Sujata Byravan, The Hindu Most observers agree that the government has set ambitious…

CLIMATE CRISIS

India’s INDCs and the road to Paris – 3

13th November 2015

(Note: In this series of posts, we take a closer look at whether India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) ahead of the Paris climate talks. In this third installment, we present comments by three independent observers that critically analyse India’s climate commitment. Also read: Part 1 and Part 2 of the series) “India has low per capita emission only thanks…

CLIMATE CRISIS

India’s INDCs and the road to Paris – 2

2nd November 2015

(Note: In this series of posts, we look at whether India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) – its promise of action to counter climate change ahead of the Paris climate talks this year – is all its claimed to be. In this second installment, we look at some of the later, more critical analyses of India’s climate commitment. Read Part…

CLIMATE CRISIS

Series: India’s INDCs and the road to Paris – 1

22nd October 2015

(Note: India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), its eagerly awaited promise of action to counter climate change ahead of the Paris climate talks this year, was released earlier this month. Starting with this one, we present a series of posts that look at whether India’s pledge is all its claimed to be. In this post, we present…

CLIMATE CRISIS

News update

5th October 2015

India pledges 33-35% cut in carbon emission intensity by 2030 Livemint.com India has said it aims to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35% by 2030 from 2005 levels, and achieve 40% of its cumulative electric power of around 350GW installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources, mainly renewable power. The statement comes…

CLIMATE CRISIS

Journalist Nitin Sethi answers readers’ questions on climate change and India

11th September 2015

Nitin Sethi, Senior Associate Editor, Business Standard DATE: September 02, 2015 SUBJECT: Should India distance itself from China on its climate change policy? ASKED BY: RANJEET KUMAR The biggest hurdle in tackling climate change is finance in a developing country. Although, India is ready to adopt the process of mitigation and adaptation, we do not have…

CLIMATE CRISIS

News update

27th August 2015

Doomsday in 10 years: India may run out of water by 2025 Nihar Gokhale, Catch News We know quite well that water is scarce. Many even imagine that a Third World War will be fought over water. Nonetheless, the thought of taps running dry doesn’t come naturally. But maybe it is time to wake up…

CLIMATE CRISIS

India: Make-Or-Break Player For Climate Change

18th July 2015

Sajai Jose Earlier this month, the U.N.’s climate chief Christina Figueres told the media that an Indian pledge to voluntarily cut carbon emissions is “critically important” to any meaningful agreement at a crucial UN climate summit in Paris in December. As IndiaSpend reported recently, India has bucked a global trend of declining CO2 emissions to emerge as the world’s fastest-growing…