The Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme to encourage energy saving in energy intensive sectors such as power, steel and cement has begun to attract companies to its fold, according to CII Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Government of India, has included cement manufacturers among top nine energy consuming sectors which require efforts to improve efficiencies and bring down power consumption.

India is a Party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Government of India attaches great importance to climate change issues. The Convention aims at stabilizing the greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at safer levels that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Eradication of poverty, avoiding risks to food production, and sustainable development are three integrated principles deeply embedded in the Convention.

This latest regional human development report for the Asia Pacific focuses on the need for the region to find ways to continue to grow economically while reducing poverty and tackling climate change and environmental concerns.

This note seeks to map where agriculture will be discussed both specifically and more indirectly at the forthcoming Bonn Climate Talks. It is indicative rather than exhaustive and is meant to help participants follow agenda items of relevance to agriculture.

Kerala will soon revamp its environment policy, three years after formulating it, to include climate change aspects in the document.

The Department of Environment has initiated a consultation process with various stakeholder agencies in this regard. The views of around 20 departments and research organisations have been sought to enrich the policy document that was published in 2009. The policy of the State was framed before the formation of the Department of Environment and Climate Change. The document had not covered climate change aspects.

Asia is at a crossroads. As the world’s most populous region, with high economic growth, a rising share of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the most vulnerability to climate risks, Asia must be at the center in the global fight against climate change. Simply stated, Asia’s current resource- and emission-intensive growth pattern is not sustainable, with further gains in human well-being constrained by the environmental carrying capacity. This study recognizes low-carbon green growth as an imperative—not an option—for developing Asia.

Madhya Pradesh Pashchim Kshetra Vidyut Vitran Company Limited (MPPVKVCL) chairman and managing director DP Ahuja opined that the power sector in MP is on track to become viable by 2016. He said that the transmission companies are likely to become viable by 2012, West DISCOM by 2013, GENCO and other 2 DISCOMs by 2016.

The requirements for measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) are one of the crucial topics on the agenda of international negotiations to address climate change mitigation. According to agreements so far, the general guidelines for domestic MRV are to be developed by Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA).

Read the Proceedings of the workshop “Preparedness of REDD+ Project in India” held at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 23 March 2012.

The UNDP has released a report titled “Taking Stock of Durban: Review of Key Outcomes and the Road Ahead,” which reviews: the UNFCCC history; the outcomes of the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the UNFCCC, held in Durban, South Africa, at the end of 2011; and the opportunities and challenges that the climate change negotiations will face in the coming years.

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