Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
In 2015, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC;) introduced a notification asking coal-based thermal power plants (TPPs) to comply with stringent emission norms. The TPPs were given a fixed deadline of December 2017 to mandatorily comply with the norms. Once the 2017 deadline approached, however, the Union …
Clean power is a must in today’s climate stressed world. Therefore, there is a clear need to strengthen the policy mechanisms to incentivize cleaner power and bring in deterrence mechanisms to check non-implementation. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), after a thorough research of concepts, proposes a strategy called …
After years of battling air pollution, the time has come to assess what has worked, what has not, and what more is needed to clean the air of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). It took a pandemic induced lockdown to understand what it takes to witness a blue …
Industry representatives (of rooftop solar companies) need to come together and forward to put up a unified proposal to state governments suggesting the lifting of caps and limits but at the same time making it clear that there are no objections to reasonable grid support charges decided by state regulators …
The National Clean Air Action Plan (NCAP) was formulated in 2019 to create time-bound strategies to reduce concentration of particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) by 20–30 per cent by 2024 (from the 2017 baseline). The overarching goal of NCAP is to create comprehensive mitigation strategies towards abatement of poor air …
Wind energy is an abundant natural resource and its intelligent use will serve the country well. But India's remarkable progress in the RE sector has largely sidelined wind power in favour of solar energy. Perhaps the best opportunity in the sector is repowering established plants to make optimum use of …
Agra, located on the western bank of river Yamuna, 206 km south of the national capital New Delhi, is a culturally rich and historically important city. It is home to as many as 48 protected monuments (as per Archaeological Survey of India’s classification). The very thought of Agra reminds us …
There is a clear technical and resource utilization justification for repowering. Repowering has the potential to increase energy generation by more than six times by using modern wind turbines and throwing in solar power into the mix, thus making the best use of natural resources as well as the power …
Air quality standards in Jaipur are one of the worst in the world. While there are many reasons for air pollution in the city, this report identifies prominent industrial hotspots and the major industrial sectors in Jaipur district that are responsible for a majority of this pollution. The aim of …
CSE in its independent study, surveyed seven districts of Delhi-NCR to assess the sources of industrial air pollution and identify the hotspots. The study revealed that diesel generators have a significant contribution to the air pollution in the studied regions. Of the seven districts surveyed, Faridabad had the highest number …
The use of electrical and electronic equipment is witnessing an explosive growth. So is e-waste. The UN has even termed this phenomenon a ‘tsunami’ of e-waste. The developed world turns the tide in its favour by redirecting the tsunami towards the developing world. While e-waste is a problem, it can …
The Statistics South Africa general household survey in 2016 noted that despite the large improvements made since 1994, many households still lack access to safe, affordable and reliable sanitation services. The establishment of sanitation infrastructure and public services that are sustainable, protect the environment and nurture human health remains a …
Coal-based power is one of the most resource intensive and polluting industries. On 07 December 2015, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change introduced stricter environmental standards for coal-based thermal power plants under the Environment Protection Act, 1986. Five years after these norms were announced, most plants have neither …
Despite the growth in renewable power, India continues to be heavily reliant on coal to meet its energy needs. This is unlikely to change in the near future. India’s coal power sector contributes nearly 50 per cent of India’s fuel-related CO2 emissions. Beset with all kinds of problems, from poor …
Crop stubble burning is a major source of pollution in Northwest India. It will require significant and continuous investment to end the practice. On the other hand, despite the growth in ‘renewables’, India’s reliance on coal to meet its base power load demand will continue in the foreseeable future. At …
The summer of 2020 has been quite different. The ongoing public health crisis, besides having caused unprecedented disruption to business-asusual, has also given us a new prism through which we can view the air pollution crisis. The economic slowdown and implementation of lockdown measures have bent the pollution curve dramatically …
India implemented Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emissions standards nationwide on 1 April 2020 amidst the raging novel coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) and economic slowdown. It leapfrogged directly from BS-IV emissions standards that were introduced nationwide in 2017 and selectively in a few cities in 2010. This leapfrog promises to reduce emissions …
India adopted nationwide Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emissions standards on 1 April 2020. This direct leapfrog from BS-IV to BS-VI emissions standards has led to a paradigm shift in emission-control systems, especially in diesel vehicles. As a result, compared to BS-IV emissions standards, particulate emissions limits for BS-VI diesel cars …
More than 75 per cent of Uganda’s population lives in rural areas and depends heavily on groundwater resources. While groundwater reserves are currently adequate to cater to the needs of the rural population—except in a few dry patches in the northeast and southwest—temporal and annual variations of rainfall, unplanned urbanization …
To deal with the sharp economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of India has announced a slew of packages estimated to be about ten per cent of India’s GDP. While there is a lot of debate on the adequacy and effectiveness of the economic packages, there is …
