Greenhouse Gases

Centre, power industry exploring curbs on most potent greenhouse gas SF6

The stable nature that makes SF6 an excellent insulator also aggravates its impacts on the climate

Decarbonisation key to firm profitability, India ahead of global average

Globally, only about 25 per cent of the companies reported annual decarbonisation benefits worth at least 7 per cent of sales

Need to address data challenges for slashing urban emission: Experts

Indian cities can play a central role in reducing greenhouse gas emission and building resilient urban environments if data collection and "scenario modelling" were strengthened, according to experts working on urban emission and strategies on mitigation plans. Using the Climate Action for Urban Sustainability (CURB) tool, up to 77 per cent of urban emission could possibly be tackled by 2050 by identifying sectors having the greatest potential in slashing emission, a team from Delhi's World Resources Institute (WRI) found. However, the challenges are plenty, the authors said. These include a limited capacity of institutions for data-driven exercises. This will need to be addressed to slash greenhouse gas emission and create sustainable, resilient urban environments. "Strengthening data collection, scenario modelling, and capacity-building frameworks will enable cities to set more ambitious and achievable climate targets, positioning them as key drivers of India's overall greenhouse

Pollution of warming gas methane soars; people are mostly to blame: Study

The amount and proportion of the powerful heat-trapping gas methane that humans spew into the atmosphere is rising, helping to turbocharge climate change, a new study finds. Tuesday's study finds that in 2020, the last year complete data is available, the world put 670 million tons (608 million metric tons) of methane in the air, up nearly 12 per cent from 2000. An even more significant finding in the study in Environmental Research Letters was the source of those emissions: those from humans jumped almost 18 per cent in two decades, while natural emissions, mostly from wetlands, inched up just 2 per cent in the same time. Methane levels in the air are now 2.6 times higher than in pre-industrial times, the study said. Methane levels in the air had plateaued for a while in the early 2000s, but now are soaring. Humans cause methane emissions by burning fossil fuels, engaging in large-scale agriculture and filling up landfills. Methane is a climate menace that the world is ignoring, ..

Denmark to be 1st to impose tax on livestock carbon emissions: Danish govt

A tax was first proposed in February by government-commissioned experts to help Denmark reach a legally binding 2030 target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent from 1990 levels

'Unusual temperatures, gas levels seen in days before Turkey earthquakes'

Unusually high land temperatures and levels of greenhouse gases in the air were observed in Turkey days before two earthquakes struck the country on February 6, 2023, a new research has found. Analysing satellite data from November 1, 2022 to February 10, 2023, Mehdi Akhoondzadeh from the University of Tehran, Iran, said that monitoring the ground and atmosphere for unusual physical and chemical parameters -- known as earthquake precursors -- could be part of an early warning system for earthquakes. The earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria were each of at least 7.6 magnitude and about nine hours apart. The death toll is said to be more than 50,000 and the earthquakes were the deadliest ones in modern history. Even though researchers are aware of earthquake precursors, it has so far been difficult to conclusively identify a pattern of such "red flags" that could foretell an impending earthquake, said the author of the study published in the Journal of Applied Geodesy. This is becau

India to spend up to $385 bn to meet renewable energy target: Moody's

India, a major greenhouse gas emitter, has said it aims to ramp up non-fossil fuel capacity set by 50 GW each year to help meet its 500 GW target.

Germany likely to miss 2030 climate goal, advisors calls for new policy

Expert Council on Climate Issues, which has independent authority to judge the country's climate performance, said Germany is unlikely to meet its goal to cut 65% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030

UK plans to implement carbon tax on imported goods like steel from 2027

The British government announced plans Monday to charge a carbon levy on imported raw materials such as aluminum, iron, steel and cement from 2027, in an attempt to prevent firms being undercut by overseas producers. However, the plan has come under criticism from the body representing British steel as being too sluggish, as it will come into effect one year after similar proposals from the European Union (EU) are implemented. Announcing its plan, Britain's Treasury said the proposed new tax will level the playing field, helping greener domestic producers compete against higher carbon, but cheaper, foreign rivals. For years, fears have been expressed that efforts to cut greenhouse gases in the UK are not being matched overseas, meaning that emissions are just being displaced to other countries without ambitious net-zero targets, leading to little global benefit. This levy will make sure carbon-intensive products from overseas like steel and ceramics face a comparable carbon price

'Trade Day' at COP28: To deliberate on policy options for climate action

At COP26 held at Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021, most developed countries committed to achieving net-zero GHG emissions by 2050

India refrains from signing the COP28 Health and Climate Declaration

India on Sunday refrained from signing the COP28 Declaration on Climate and Health, with sources pointing out that curbing greenhouse gas use for cooling in the health sector, which is one of the points in the document, may not be practical or achievable within the country's healthcare infrastructure in the short term. The declaration calls for climate action to achieve benefits for health from deep, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, including from just transitions, lower air pollution, active mobility, and shifts to sustainable healthy diets. On the occasion of the first Health Day at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) on Sunday, the declaration expressed grave concern about the negative impacts of climate change on health. The declaration is signed by 124 countries till now with the US and India, which are among the top greenhouse gas emitters, absent from the list of signatories. The declaration, aimed at addressing the critical intersection

Record-breaking rise in greenhouse gases threatens climate goals: WMO

The concentration of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere once again hit a new record last year and there appears to be no halt to this escalating trend, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The global averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), considered the most critical greenhouse gas, were a staggering 50 per cent above the pre-industrial era (1850-1900) in 2022 for the first time. These levels have continued to escalate in 2023, it said. The WMO's Greenhouse Gas Bulletin noted that although the growth rate in CO2 concentrations was slightly lower than the preceding year and the decade's average, this decline was likely due to short-term variations in the carbon cycle. The report highlighted that new emissions from industrial activities continued to rise. Methane concentrations also grew, and levels of nitrous oxide, the third main gas, saw the highest year-on-year increase on record from 2021 to 2022, according to the ...

Trading for a greener tomorrow

The way forward to meet the nationally determined contributions is a well-regulated domestic emission trading mechanism

Itziar Irakulis Loitxate: The climate sleuth tracking methane leaks for UN

The 27-year-old PhD student isn't a detective but she may be the closest thing the world has to climate police

How carbon emissions accounting helps in achieving net zero targets

The process of calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emitted directly by operations or indirectly by supply chain and subsidiaries is known as carbon accounting

India's steelmaking goals risk quadrupling emissions, says report

The world's second-biggest crude steel producer aims to achieve its steelmaking capacity goal of 300 million tonnes by 2030, and aims to be a net zero emitter of greenhouse gases by 2070

Green road freight cluster to help reduce gas emissions in India: WEF

The World Economic Forum on Wednesday announced the launch of India's first zero-emission road freight cluster initiative which will reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions. The announcement was made during a side event hosted by NITI Ayog at the backdrop of ongoing G20 Energy Transitions Working Group meeting in Panaji. Jasmeet Khurana, Lead, Moving Emerging Markets, World Economic Forum told PTI in Panaji that Adani Ports and SEZ, Apollo Tyres Ltd, TCI Group (Transport Corporation of India Limited) and UltraTech Cement are the partners that will anchor this cluster development through their own early actions. He said that the World Economic Forum and partners have committed to deploying 550 electric trucks on the west coast of Gujarat and Maharashtra within the next 18-24 months. Khurana said that this initiative is under the e-FAST centre of NITI Aayog and is supported by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways as the cluster aligns with its 'Harit Sagar' Green Port

Shipping industry's net zero target could be set to flexible deadline

The shipping industry's carbon neutral deadline could be reset to a flexible 'mid-century' deadline considering the national circumstances, a relaxation from the strict 2050 goal that was actively deliberated among the member states of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). The crucial 80th session of the Maritime Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the IMO is likely to reach a consensus, mostly considering the demand from the developing nations, to reset the carbon neutral goal to mid-century, with interim goals of reduction of GHG emissions 20 per cent by 2030 and 70 per cent by 2040. "These targets seem to be achievable with a mid-century deadline, considering the national circumstances," Ajithkumar Sukumaran, Additional DG, Shipping, and an Indian delegate at the MEPC 80, told PTI. Most of the developing nations have been lobbying for the mid-century target -- could be 2051, 2052 or 2053, insisting on not strictly fixing 2050 as the year for achieving net zero. T

Monday was the hottest day ever as global temperatures rise, shows data

The average worldwide temperature was 17C (63F), just above the previous record of 16.9C reached in August 2016, according to data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction

US, India to build payment security system to put 10,000 e-buses on roads

Move will boost India's focused efforts in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving public health, and diversifying global supply chain