CO2 emissions cost India $210 billion every year

Carbon dioxide emissions are costing the Indian economy up to $210 billion every year, according to a global study which found that India is likely to suffer highest economic damage from climate change after the US.

Previous research has focused on how rich countries benefit from the fossil fuel economy, while damages accrue primarily to the developing world. However, researchers from University of California San Diego in the US found that the top three counties with the most to lose from climate change are US, India and Saudi Arabia.

The country-level SCC for the India alone is estimated to be about $86 per tonne of CO2. At current emission levels, the Indian economy loses $210 billion annually, said Ricke, corresponding author of the study published in the journal Nature Climate Change

The country-level SCC for the India alone is estimated to be about $86 per tonne of CO2. At current emission levels, the Indian economy loses $210 billion annually, said Ricke, corresponding author of the study published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

India, World's Fastest Growing Economy, Has World's Most Toxic Air

India has long struggled to pull together the type of coordinated national approach that's helped China reduce pollution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is now pushing new initiatives it says are starting to curtail hazardous air.

Asia's largest economy, China, has long had a reputation for smoggy skies. But these days, neighboring India is fighting the far bigger battle with pollution: it is home to the world's 10 most polluted cities.

In the coming weeks, the Modi government's policies on pollution will be put to the test as winter descends on the dusty plains of north India. Crops are burned during this season and millions of fireworks go off during Diwali, usually pushing air pollution to hazardous levels.

If strict policies to battle smog were successfully implemented, India's citizens and government would be much richer. By the World Bank's calculations, health-care fees and productivity losses from pollution cost India as much as 8.5 percent of GDP. At its current size of $2.6 trillion that works out to about $221 billion every year.

The environment ministry says it's also making headway in reducing bad air, citing its own calculations for this September when it says levels of PM2.5 came down in Delhi. The ministry has introduced an early warning system to help it take preemptive action before pollution spikes and its planned other measures like deploying more road sweeping machines.

Firecrackers Not Only Pollute The Environment But Also Carry Cancer Causing Chemicals

• Despite pollution levels on the rise in Delhi, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that there would be no complete ban on sale of firecrackers. The top court, however, passed the order with certain restrictions. 
• The petition had called for a nation-wide ban on the sale of firecrackers, saying that the right to breathe clean air is essential for growth and development. "Delhi has been the most polluted city in the world and health related illnesses primarily target the youngest of its citizens," the petition read. The Centre, on the other hand, opposed the complete ban on the sale of fire crackers across the country, suggesting that certain conditions be imposed on the sale of high-decibel fire crackers.
• A firecracker has four key ingredients - the oxidizer, a fuel, a colouring agent and finally a binder. Simply put, the oxidizer - an oxygen-rich compound like a nitrate or a chlorate - combines with the fuel, usually charcoal in India - to combine and result in the explosion. The colouring agent, which ranges from lithium compounds for red colour to barium nitrate for green colour, is added for the required hue. The binders hold the mixture together like a paste and finally there is the regulator - a metal, like aluminium, titanium or copper - that is added to control the speed and reaction of the colouring agent used. 
• How a firecracker is to be deployed determines the specific combination of these four ingredients, and also the resulting pollution. So, those that produce brilliant blue hues usually have copper compounds that increase the risk of cancer while those that glitter contain antmony sulfide, also known to be carcinogenic. 

Lagos to partner FBRA to rid environment of PET waste

• The Lagos State government has indicated interest to partner with the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance FBRA, on the eradication of post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles that are improperly disposed thereby blocking drainage channels and canals in our environment.
• Adeyo said the issue of waste has been of great concern and that any initiative to eradicate it, like FBRA’s waste collection and recycling scheme, is quite appreciated.
• Adeyo said the government has created an enabling system for organisations working through a Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) like FBRA, to thrive in order to attain a common goal of keeping the environment clean.
• With Recycle Points as collection partner, FBRA has made preparations towards recovery of PET bottles from the environment as well as advocacy campaigns focused on awareness and responsible waste management. It’s time to turn our waste into wealth. 
• On the eve of the World Cleanup Day on September 15, volunteer staff of FBRA member-firms led traders and other users of Arena Market in Oshodi, Lagos in the recovery of post-consumer PET bottles and other packaging materials towards a cleaner and healthier trading environment.

Raw sewage from 38 towns and villages flowing into our environment

• WASTE WATER FROM 57 areas across Ireland caused significant impacts on our rivers, lakes and coastal waters last year, according to a new report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
• In its report on Urban Waste Water Treatment in 2017, it finds that Ireland is not investing quickly enough in infrastructure that is needed to treat our waste water. 
• While discharges of raw sewage from six urban areas have ceased, raw sewage from the equivalent of 88,000 people in 38 towns and villages is still flowing into the environment today.
• Furthermore, waste water treatment at 28 of Ireland’s 179 large towns and cities failed to meet standards set to prevent pollution and protect public health. 
• In the case of these 28 towns and cities, the EPA said it accounts for over half of the sewage collected in our public sewers.
• EPA’s director of the office of environmental enforcement Dr Tom Ryan said: “It is unacceptable that, 13 years after the final deadline to comply with treatment standards, there are still 28 large towns and cities discharging inadequately treated sewage that fails to meet these standards. 

Top priority for public transport

Electric power is the way to go for the transport sector, given the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. India, too, is taking measures to lay the foundation of such a transition. The government is finalising a policy that would help transition the sector away from the internal combustion engine and fossil fuels to electric vehicles and alternative fuels. In devising a policy for clean mobility, the government must prioritise mass transit over cars and private vehicles.

Shared pride: Gujarat saved the Asiatic lion but must give it new sanctuaries to insulate from epidemics

The death of 24 lions in Gujarat since early September and another 21 lions reportedly testing positive for canine distemper virus (CDV) rings warning bells for the state government. In 2013, Supreme Court had ordered relocation of some Gir lions to the Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh. This makes eminent sense given the risk of extinction facing endangered species that is clustered in a single geographical region. While Gujarat has cited the lack of adequate facilities at Kuno, many wildlife experts are not willing to buy this explanation.

Rivers and idol immersions: Stop the pollution

From Lucknow we have ugly images of the Gomti river choking on countless Ganesha idols, built with PoP that takes years to decompose, plus paints heavy with lead and mercury that also hurt the river and all life in it. In Ahmedabad wholesale immersions have managed to change the colour of the Sabarmati. Nagpur’s Futala Lake is looking much the worse. In Mumbai thousands of dead turtles and fishes have washed ashore on Dadar and Juhu beaches. In Delhi the Ganesh Chaturthi festival has left the Yamuna foaming toxically.

A clean environment for human empowerment

the United Nations honoured me with the ‘Champions of the Earth Award’. While I was extremely humbled at receiving this honour, I do feel that this award is not for an individual. Instead, it is recognition of the Indian culture and values, which have always placed emphasis on living in harmony with Mother Nature.

It was a proud moment for every Indian to see India’s proactive role in mitigating climate change being acknowledged and appreciated by the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres and Erik Solheim, the executive director of the UNEP.

At the current rate of CO2 emission, the 1.5°C target would be reached between 10 to 30 years from now

The IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, to give it its official title, is particularly noteworthy because it was in response to a specific request from the parties to the Paris agreement. For the first time in the Paris agreement the limit of 1.5°C of global warming above pre-industrial levels was mentioned as a goal that countries should strive to achieve. Hence a special report from the IPCC was called for. It would also examine the differences between mitigation and adaptation for a 1.5°C and 2°C target for limiting global temperature rise, while keeping the goal of sustainable development.

Rising temperatures and human activity are increasing storm runoff and flash floods

Researchers have demonstrated for the first time that runoff extremes have been dramatically increasing in response to climate and human-induced changes. Their findings show a large increase in both precipitation and runoff extremes driven by both human activity and climate change. They also found that storm runoff has a stronger response than precipitation to human-induced changes (climate change, land-use land-cover changes, etc).

The researchers discovered that changes in storm runoff extremes in most regions of the world are in line with or higher than those of precipitation extremes. They noted that different responses of precipitation and storm runoff to temperature can be attributed not only to warming, but also to factors like land-use and land-cover changes, water and land management, and vegetation changes that have altered the underlying surface conditions and hydrological feedbacks that have, in turn, increased storm runoff.

Precipitation is generated after water vapour condenses in the atmosphere, and precipitation intensity is governed by the availability of atmospheric water vapour. Because the atmosphere can hold more moisture as temperature rises, climate scientists expect to see an intensification of precipitation extremes with climate change.

Graded plan goes up in smoke, CPCB finds 21 ‘most polluted’ areas in Gurgaon

Monitoring teams appointed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified 21 most polluted spots in the city, where rampant violations of GRAP measures resulted in high levels of pollution. 
According to its report, IMT-Manesar, sectors 9 and 10, and stretches along the NH-8 were the worst affected areas during a period of three weeks starting around September-end, due to the massive flouting of green norms, open dumping of construction and demolition waste, open storage of construction material and broken or uneven roads. 

Further, the CPCB report indicated open dumping of construction and demolition (C&D) waste has been one of the major contributing factors behind high pollution levels in Gurgaon. 

$43 Mn to boost climate resilience for India's coastal areas

A UN-backed fund has approved for enhancing climate resilience for millions of people leaving in India's coastal communities as a part of its efforts to combat the extreme impacts of climate change. the grand is a part of more than $1 billion approved by the green climate fund for 19 new projects to help developing countries tackle climate change. the projects will be supported by the united nations development programme.