-Press release by Centre for Science and Environment dated 9th August, 2021 The latest IPCC report confirms that we can no longer lose time in prevarication or in finding new excuses not to act, including empty promises of net zero by 2050. We bring you an appraisal of the report’s findings by CSE director general Sunita Narain * The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases the first part of its sixth...

-IndiaSpend.com Under emissions trading systems, it pays for companies to install pollution-reducing technology. Surat's pilot scheme enabled participating industrial units to reduce particulate emissions by 24%, an initial analysis has found. Now Ahmedabad and Ludhiana plan to follow suit New Delhi: Last week, China, the world's top greenhouse gas emitter, announced it was opening a national carbon market, a type of emissions trading system. Under the system, industrial units that cannot meet...

-Down to Earth Aggressive sugarcane farming contaminates land, water The Union government intends to increase the amount of ethanol in the energy mix to lower the country’s dependence on imported oil and carbon footprint, as well as stabilise petrol prices.  India currently blends about 8.5 per cent ethanol in petrol. The government is targeting a 10 per cent ethanol blend by 2022 and a 20 per cent blend (E20) by 2025. E20 can save...

-IndianSpend.com Recent changes to environment clearance rules allow polluting industries to expand their operations and change their product mix without full central scrutiny. This may weaken the already poor compliance with environmental regulations and could even lead to industrial accidents like the 2020 Visakhapatnam gas leak, experts say. New Delhi: Recent changes in the environment clearance process for India's most polluting industries will allow them to expand their capacity and change their...

-The Hindu The pandemic also has its hidden victims — over 500 million children forced out of school globally and India accounted for more than half of them. The country is all set to usher in a ‘pandemic generation’, with 375 million children (from newborns to 14-year-olds) likely to suffer long-lasting impacts, ranging from being underweight, stunting and increased child mortality, to losses in education and work productivity, according to the State...