Category:

Climate, Environment, Renewable Energy

Flood-prone Mumbai digs in to tackle warming-worsened ‘monsoon mayhem’

Mumbai is part of the C40 Cities network, a group of nearly 100 major cities globally working to drive faster action on climate change. Each has committed to delivering a climate action plan designed to spur uptake of clean energy, boost adaptation to climate shifts and turn the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change into an on-the-ground reality.

Mumbai launched its first Climate Action Plan (known as MCAP) this month. Amid dire predictions that large parts of the city could face inundation by 2050, it brings together different arms of the administration to try to fast-track solutions.

read more

AIIB increases Green Public Rail Transport options in India,$356.67 million approved to expand Chennai metro system

The project’s design and construction will have environmentally friendly features to help reduce its carbon footprint. In addition to solar panels installed on the roofs of the elevated stations, the project will have dedicated spaces for bicycles and green vehicles, and signage to raise environmental awareness. The project also integrates climate change resilience features to reduce its vulnerability to climate-related events.

read more
Govt ready with the blueprint to manage disasters in India: Amit Shah

Govt ready with the blueprint to manage disasters in India: Amit Shah

Now, the government has also prepared a plan to integrate all the agencies and departments, even the smallest of the units. Whether it is a small village or a big metro city or a remote district, or a coastal city, every place has a plan ready to respond to the disaster.    
The change in approach has yielded very good results, the 1999 cyclone alone killed 10,000 people and this year there have been three cyclones but the death toll is not more than 50.

read more

Coal power plant pollution in India could lead to additional premature deaths in 6 cities: Study

Dr Rachel Huxley, Head of Knowledge and Research at ‘C40 Cities’ said, “Current national plans would expand the coal fleet by 28 per cent between 2020 and 2030 and not reducing it by 20 per cent, threatening the health and well-being of the urban residents in Delhi while undermining India’s climate and air quality targets.” She further stated, “Current national plans could nearly double the number of annual premature deaths from coal power plants air pollution in the city.”

read more

Oil will be world’s No. 1 energy source for decades, says OPEC

OPEC says that more electric vehicles on the road and the push for alternative and renewable energy will indeed usher in an era of declining demand for oil in rich countries.

But the energy needs of expanding economies in other parts of world will still leave oil as the world’s No. 1 source of energy through 2045, OPEC said Tuesday in its annual World Oil Outlook.

read more

Climate change and cyber risk top the list of concerns in AXA Future Risks Report 2021

“Climate change returned to the top of the experts’ risk ranking in the 2021 survey, having been displaced by pandemic risk in 2020.The survey revealed regional differences: climate concern is higher in Europe than anywhere else, among both experts and the general public. Meanwhile, experts in Africa and the Americas were most pessimistic about their national governments’ preparedness to tackle this risk,” said AXA.

read more

U.S. to declare 23 species, including ivory-billed woodpecker, extinct – media

Government scientists have exhausted efforts to find these 23 species and warned that climate change, on top of other pressures, could make such disappearances more common, the Associated Press reported. “Each of these 23 species represents a permanent loss to our nation’s natural heritage and to global biodiversity,” Bridget Fahey, who oversees species classification for the Fish and Wildlife Service, was quoted as saying in the New York Times.

“And it’s a sobering reminder that extinction is a consequence of human-caused environmental change,” Fahey said. The extinctions include 11 birds, eight freshwater mussels, two species of fish, a bat, and a plant, according to the Times.

read more

Coal expansion could cause over 5,200 premature deaths, 8,300 preterm births in Delhi this decade

Twelve percent of India’s coal-based electricity is generated within 500 km of the national capital.

The research suggests that around 55 lakh sick days could be caused by air pollution exposure from coal power plants in Delhi if the current proposed expansion of coal capacity takes place. The economic health costs associated with coal pollution in Delhi is estimated at USD 8.4 billion over the coming decade.

read more

Researchers find double benefit of climate protection through both limiting, delaying global warming

In the study, the scientists analysed the joint impacts of demographic development and climate change on people exposed to tropical cyclones — and found that timing of when certain warming levels are reached becomes crucial. The results are even more obvious on the country level, explained Johannes Gutschow.

“Our model shows, with unprecedented detail, that in 2050 all countries at high risk of tropical cyclones are projected to see a rise in exposure. Due to the projected population growth, we found exposure changes of nearly 300 per cent in some East African countries, up to 100 per cent in the US and also a strong increase for the Arabian Peninsula.”

read more

Need to step up efforts to tackle climate change impact on agriculture, entire ecosystem: PM

Modi said, “Not only agriculture, climate change is a big challenge to the entire ecosystem. …Due to climate change, new types of pests, new diseases, epidemics are coming. Due to this, there is a big threat to the health of humans and livestock and crops are also being affected.?

Climate change impact is on fish production and animal health and output. As a result, farmers and fishermen have to bear the losses, he said

read more