Category:

Climate, Environment, Renewable Energy

Dutch court case claims Shell’s operations violate human rights

The case brought by the Dutch arm of Friends of the Earth, Milieudefensie, links the oil major’s stance on climate change with human rights. The ruling will also have implications for Shell’s European peers as pressure mounts on polluting energy companies to step up the fight against global warming.

Over two weeks of court proceedings, lawyers for Milieudefensie have argued that Shell is violating human rights by extracting fossil fuels and undermining the Paris Agreement’s aim of keeping temperature rises below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Shell says it’s playing its part in addressing climate change, which can only be tackled through collaboration and not court action.

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Over 4.5 cr people in India will be forced to migrate from homes by 2050 due to climate disasters

The report  ”Costs of climate inaction: displacement and distress migration” assessed climate-fuelled displacement and migration across five South Asian countries — Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — and calculates a devastating likelihood of over 6 crore people being homeless and displaced by 2050 in South Asia alone.

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NGT rejects MP govt”s plea seeking extension of time for compliance of waste management directions

“They are to enforce the mandate of law laid down under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and Rules framed thereunder and binding directions of the Supreme Court,” the bench also comprising Justice S K Singh said.

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Lloyd’s to end investment in coal-fired power plants, coal mines, oil sands by 2022

Bruce Carnegie-Brown, Chairman of Lloyd’s ESG committee and Chairman of Lloyd’s said: “This is the first time we have set an ESG strategy for the Lloyd’s market and it represents an important milestone on the journey towards building a more sustainable future. We have the opportunity to play our part in building back a braver, more resilient world. We recognise that the targets we are setting will be challenging, but will also bring new opportunities. We will work closely with our market and customers to help them plan for these changes as we implement a long-term managed programme towards sustainable, responsible underwriting.”

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COVID has exposed inequalities in short time; human should work with not against nature: UNDP report

”Nothing short of a great transformation – in how we live, work and cooperate – is needed to change the path we are on.” Citing events such as climate crisis, biodiversity collapse, ocean acidification, the UNDP said the list is long and growing longer. ”So much so that many scientists believe that for the first time, instead of the planet shaping humans, humans are knowingly shaping the planet. This is the Anthropocene – the Age of Humans – a new geologic epoch.

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India ranks 131 in UN’s human development index

Life expectancy of Indians at birth in 2019 was 69.7 years while Bangladesh has a life expectancy of 72.6 years and Pakistan 67.3 years, the 2020 Human Development Report said. India, Bhutan (129), Bangladesh (133), Nepal (142), and Pakistan (154) were ranked among countries with medium human development, the report said. India’s HDI value for 2019 is 0.645 which put it in the medium human development category. India has been positioned at 131 out of 189 countries and territories, according to the report. India had ranked 130 in 2018 in the index.

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