The India Climate Observatory

Commentary, action and research on climate and development in India

Himalayan Glacier Melt

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Himalayan Glacier Melt

The melting glaciers of the Himalayas are India’s canaries in the coalmine. If they don’t wake up politicians and people on climate change, nothing else will.

The implications are grave. The Hindu-Kush Himalaya region stretches across Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar. It contains the largest mass of ice in the world after the North and South Poles and is called the ‘Third Pole’. It is home to ten major river basins and provides water for one fifth of the world’s population.

But the life-giving glaciers – the water towers of Asia – are melting. Scientists estimate that these peaks are melting at twice the rate of surface temperature and we are therefore witnessing the impact of climate change on high-altitude glaciers earlier than at other areas such as the plains.

The causes are only warming temperatures as a result of greenhouse gas emissions but also soot emissions or ‘black carbon’ from the burning of biomass such as wood, crop waste and dung.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change generated controversy earlier this year by erroneously suggesting that Himalayan glaciers could be gone by 2035. While the date was retracted, there is no doubt that glaciers are receding and at faster rates than witnessed before.

Once the melting accelerates it is projected there will be floods, death, destruction and loss of livelihoods downstream. Once the stocks of water held frozen in the glaciers have been drawn down, there will be precious little left for future generations. Precipitation in an era of warming is expected to be lower and the water security of millions will be further compromised.

The dangers of climate change and glacier melt on a region that is home to not only the largest populations in the world, but the largest number of poor people in the world means that action cannot be delayed. Unknown risks such as the dangers to the Monsoon mean that both preventative and adaptation strategies must be deployed.

The Indian government is waking up to the threat of climate change – slowly – but is hedging its bets. A discussion paper released by the Ministry for Environment and Forests in 2009 suggests that Himalayan glacier melt is cyclical and not necessarily a result of global warming.

This flies in the face of more detailed Chinese studies and analysis conducted by regional governments of Bhutan and Nepal and institutions such as ICIMOD which call for vigorous action to curtail greenhouse gas emissions and black carbon.

More recently, the Indian government has established an Indian Network of Climate Change Assessment (INCAA) to assess domestic climate impacts and is seeking to partner with China on glacier research and mountain ecosystem studies. The country’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (June 2008) also contains a section on Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystems to protect and conserve Himalayan ecosystems.

Most importantly, people across India are beginning to mobilize on the issue. Organisations, research institutes and concerned individuals are beginning to network in the Himalayan states in particular and efforts are being made to both reduce the risks to the region through mitigation strategies, as well as prepare for changes underway through adaptation strategies.

The High Ultramarathon

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‘The High’ – Running for climate action

Why think of running at these crazy altitudes?

The reason for doing this run is to bring to everyone’s notice what is happening to the Himalayas, often called the ‘Water Tower’ or even ‘Third Pole of the world’, because these mountains contain the largest store of fresh-water in the world after the north and south poles.

Life giving waters of 10 major river systems originate from the Himalayas, sustaining nearly one-fifth of humanity. (from southern China, through the Mekong delta in Vietnam and Irrawady in Myanmar to the Indo-Gangetic plains in north India)

We are working with the Centre for Social Market’s Climate Challenge India campaign for this cause. CSM says the melting glaciers of the Himalayas are India’s canaries in the coalmine. If they don’t wake up politicians and people on climate change, nothing else will.

The strapline for CSM’s climate campaign is: “A billion good reasons for leadership.” The organisation is changing the way the issue is framed in India – from a victim-led approach to a pro-active, ‘can-do/ must-do’ agenda. CSM hosts the India Climate Portal and is at the forefront of climate advocacy in the country, working with business, government, cities, schools and NGOs to promote leadership and advance solutions.

CSM’s chief executive, and fellow runner, Malini Mehra, says: “We can live without oil, but we can’t live without water. This run is an important opportunity to bring world attention to the challenges facing our mountains and all who live and depend on them – people and nature alike. We are committed to working with Back 2 Fitness to make The High a regular annual event that will act as a catalyst for action.”

Whats ‘La Ultra – The High’ about?

It’s an Ultra run in the foothills of Himalayas, with a total distance of 200 km (124 miles)

This run would happen on Leh – Manali HighwayWe will cross (controversially*) the highest motorable pass in the world, i.e. Khardung La (17,700 ft) down to Leh an then up again to Tanglang La (17,583 ft).

Highest points is Khardung La at 17,700 ft (5395 m).

Cumulative vertical ascent: 10,193 ft (3,107 m)

Cumulative vertical descent: 8,873 ft (2,704 m)

Why call it ‘La Ultra – The High’?

We cross two of the 7 highest mountain passes in the world. Mountain Pass in Tibetan is called La. ‘La Ultra’ means ‘ultra of passes’.

This is easily the highest ultra out there. But we are not interested in that claim. Its an experience to cherish for life. It’s being on ‘The High’, both in altitude terms and to be on a ‘Runner’s High’ as well.

Why are dates chosen that clash with some classic ultras out there?

We don’t have much of a choice. This route is only open from June to mid-September when snow is cleared by the Border Road Organisation.

Also, on 25th July is full moon. The mountains look even more gorgeous during the night.

What about High Altitude Sickness, since this is at crazy heights?

We have taken that into account. According to Indian Army’s schedule for acclimatisation, there needs to be a 4 day stop at 9,000 ft and then again for 4 days at 13,000 ft. Since we are starting from about those altitudes, we can run non-stop.
We have made it mandatory for all participants and volunteers to be in Leh for a week before the run for acclimatisation.

Gadhia Solar – Member of the Week

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The Climate Challenge India portal is now three weeks in the running. For the week of 6th July to 13th July, we profile the Gadhia Solar, an innovative solar thermal energy company, focused on providing energy solutions by using parabolic concentrated technologies, backed by technical support from HTT GmbH of Germany.

PIONEERING SOLAR IN INDIA!
Idea of bringing in clean, affordable and sustainable energy into daily practices in India

The idea came when Mr. Gadhia was requested by his wife to help her solve a problem she always faced, when talking to villagers not to cut forest and when she was faced by questions from villagers as to how they should cook and survive without using wood as it was their primary source of energy. He was asked for help because he worked in the field of Energy.

Initially he thought it would be simple and researched for solution and came across box solar cookers and they were being promoted in India for more than 50 years and so thought/assumed that the villagers did not know about it and thus offered it as a solution.To their surprise villagers knew of solar cookers but the problem they faced with same was that it was too slow, it could not fry and make chappaties etc.

Thus began their journey to offer clean, affordable and sustainable energy but with equipments that fulfilled people’s expectations, needs and were user friendly. Following which they introduced in India Parabolic Solar Cookers based on technology transfer from their inventor friend Dr. Dieter Seifert of Germany which enabled faster cooking and cooking of all traditional items. Then on they graduated to Community Solar Cooking and from there to Institutional cooking.They have responded to the needs of cooking by developing better, bigger and cost effective solar cookers to cater to needs of different target groups

Projects with maximum impact

They have been fortunate to do many prestigious projects which have brought them name and fame and business including the World’s Largest Solar Steam Cooking System at Tirumala Tirupati Temple which cooks 30,000 meals per day. That has had maximum impact because on an average 70,000 people visit Tirupati Temple every day and 30,000 out of them eat solar cooked food and get convinced that food can be cooked with Solar energy and take the positive message of Solar energy and environmental protection home after that experience.

BUT for them the most satisfying projects were the Smoke-Free villages they did along with NEDCAP where the whole village cooks without consuming any conventional fuel like LPG or Kerosene or wood and cooks with 26 solar cookers and 23 biogas plants.

According to them the real impact in turn of saving environment and protecting our planet earth will happen when common man starts using renewable energy but that can happen not just with Technology but with help of Social Engineering so that the common man can have access have to such technologies. In smoke-free villages they achieved the same with the help of micro-financing and income generation so that people pay from their profits and not from their pockets!

Best practices towards concrete solutions to climate change

Gadhia Solar is constantly working to make the solar technology more cost effective and user friendly and such that it can do multi-tasking and be used for multiple applications. They have helped German Government conduct Carbon-neutral Conference by supplying them Gold Standard CERs from their Solar Cooking Projects making it a win-win situation where the user of solar cookers gets an income for having not put co2 in atmosphere and the buyer of his CERs is happy to have fulfilled his commitments under Kyoto protocol.

Contribution to economy,development and contributing positively to further renewable technologies

The real contribution of Business towards economy and development will be when Sustainable Development is taken into consideration. Gadhia Solar right from the beginning concentrated on developing technology using local raw material, using local skills and the product be such that it can be installed and operated and repaired by local technician. By this business method they helped create jobs and value addition at local level.

Another point they are working on is that their renewable energy products should also help the local economy in fulfilling its needs to address problem of poverty elevation. For example they are of the opinion that food processing with Solar Energy can contribute immensely not just by saving fuel and reducing environment BUT will also enable farmers to convert their perishable product into non perishable product and thus are empowered to hold on to their products till they get better price and not forced to sell it to middle-man.
How can membership to the CCI platform contribute to what the Gadhia Solar is doing?

CSM partner Gadhia Solar says:

“ We feel that CCI Platform will make positive difference by focusing the attention of Mass and Media on the problems and solutions and also show that there is immense potential and possibility for us to take charge of our fate and that we don’t have the luxury and time to wait and watch and as Obama would have said- YES WE CAN…..”

Solar technology of tomorrow

According to Gadhia Solar, the most effective “Solar Technology of Tomorrow” would be the system they are working on where each Multi-storey building would have Solar Thermal Concentrators on their terrace and the heat would be piped into each apartment either as steam or hot oil and used for cooking, for air-conditioning of the apartment, for generating hot water for bathing and washing of clothes and utensils, for producing drinking water by desalination or pasteurization and in the end for running small turbine to produce electricity. Thus each building can be Energy self sufficient.

Companies role in shaping the green economy

Mr. Gadhia thinks it is the beginning of the “Solar Age” and just like the last age was driven by IT the next age would be driven by Green Economy and there is a need for many more Social Entrepreneurs who would not be driven just by a profit motive but with zeal to do something for the environment and people.

New and On-going projects across the country

Gadhia Solar is working on challenging projects where steam/ heat from Solar Concentrators would be used not just for cooking but also for Industrial heating and cooling applications and for other applications which the society needs at large e.g. drinking water from sea water and Solar Crematoriums.

–    Installing a 100 TR Solar Air-conditioning plant for a Cancer Hospital run by Muni Seva Ashram and after gaining some experience in solar cooling would like to use solar cooling for cold storages which is the need of the future to give boost to Agriculture.

–    Installing a Solar

–    Signed MOU with Gujarat Government to install 100 MW Solar Power Plant using Solar Concentrators and waiting to sign PPA.

Prospects of solar energy applications in rural areas

Mr. and Mrs. Gadhia’s heart beats for rural population but are saddened by the fact that people (middle class and rich) who can afford to buy and use Solar Cooking and Energy do not want to use it people who want to (and need) use solar cookers cannot afford to buy it. They are trying to overcome the problem with Social Engineering and are confident that the people in rural area would take up use of it thankfully.

Trend for institutions moving towards clean-energy technologies on the rise

It has been positive noticeable change as earlier the decisions to go for solar systems were based only on economics but now with awareness many institutions are willing to go for clean-energy technology even if the pay-back is not as attractive.

Role of innovation in Gadhia Solar’s move to a greener future?

It is only due to innovation that Gadhia Solar could make a mark in the field of Solar Energy. With the introduction of Solar Concentrators and its commercialization they introduced a product that fulfilled peoples need i.e. to cook faster and all items. For community cooking, they got feedback that there was need for Solar system which would enable cooking in the comfort of a kitchen and thus introduced Solar technology. Where, the solar rays were reflected and concentrated in the kitchen through a small opening in the wall allowing cooking in comfort of a kitchen. They then introduced Solar Steam Cooking where solar steam is used for cooking meals for thousands.

Comment on India’s Solar Mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change and how it can shape the prospects of the green and clean-tech sector

“We feel that it is a very important step and will bring Green and Clean-tech Sector to Center Stage. Untill now the area was dominated by enthusiasts and idealists who drove the field with dedication and perseverance but now professionalism has to come in to take it to the next stage” – Gadhia Solar

India’s Changing Energy Mix

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India’s Changing Energy Mix

The Indian economy continues to grow at the rate of 7 to 8 percent. However, the very economic development that we strive to achieve depends heavily on robust and reliable energy services. Ideally, energy production must not come at a high social or environmental cost – a challenge we must face up to through sustainable growth.

Truth be told, India’s per capita energy consumption is low – 500 kgoe; far lower that the global average of 1800 kgoe1. This is due in large part, to a severe shortage of energy supply, with over 600 million Indians having no access to electricity1. Clearly, meeting this requirement itself implies a massive up in future energy generation. The government is acutely aware of this massive power deficit, and has a ‘power for all by 2012’ mission, and a planned increase in power capacity of 69 GW for the 11th Plan. Much of this growth is expected to be based on coal, at least in the short term.


India’s Changing Energy Mix

(Source: Ministry of Power)

However, recognizing the potentially serious impacts of climate change, India has ratified the UN climate deal and the Kyoto Protocol. In the follow-up to the ratification, the government came forward with the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) in June 2008. In this document, Dr. Manmohan Singh committed that “India is determined not to exceed per-capita emissions of developed countries”, while “meeting its development goals”. So although the mandate of development remains undiluted, the NAPCC ties in closely with the larger goals of energy security and sustainable development.

The NAPCC has eight key ‘missions’ of which the National Solar Mission, the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency and the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat are flagship missions that will aim to meet key development and energy security requirements while keeping India’s greenhouse gas emissions in check.

Although detailed documents on implementation, timelines and strategies for these missions are yet to be released, they come at a time when key power sector reforms and the formation of two key energy-related government bodies (the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency) can provide the backbone that these missions need to flex to full capacity.

Massive improvements in energy efficiency are possible, and can save and therefore create power supply in large quantities. This is a tack the government is pursuing in a big way. The Ministry of Power is planning to establish an energy efficiency services company (EESL) that will function as the implementation arm of the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency, and implement energy efficiency planning and appliances in buildings and industrial sites, consultancy and the Bachat Lamp Yojana of the BEE.

Although renewables (other than hydropower) only contribute 7.7 percent to India’s energy mix as of now, India is currently the fourth-largest producer of wind energy.

With over 3oo sunny days in a year, India’s geo-position allows us to receive over 5000 trillion kWh of pure solar energy each year, with the potential to generate huge quantities of electricity through a high energy security, zero-carbon process. However, the current prohibitor to this wonder-solution is cost. This is where the National Solar Mission comes in, with the aim of making solar power competitive with respect to fossil fuel based power sources.

The Solar Mission aims to increase solar capacity by 20,000MW by 2020, and achieve grid parity for solar power in the longer term. The central government has already ordered the installation of solar power in all public buildings and has given the nod for private enterprise production of solar photovoltaic panels.

Although we still have a long way to go in terms of achieving energy equity and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, one hopes that key policies, incentives and investment from the government will promote private partnership in moving India towards a low-carbon future.

Write to us: tell us how you think India can maximize its efforts to improve energy efficiency and use clean and renewable technologies: cci@csmworld.org

[Ref – India: Addressing Energy Security. Oct 2007. MoEF; Martinez D.M. & Ebenhack B.W. Understanding the role of energy consumption in human development through the use of the saturation phenomena. 2007. Energy Policy, 36, 1430-1435; Ministry of Power; Ministry of New and Renewable Energy]

Green Energy and Green Livelihoods Achievement Award

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The Climate Challenge India portal is now two weeks in the running. For the week of 29th June to 6th July, we profile the Sierra Club, America’s oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, which has recently announced its ‘Green Energy and Green Livelihoods Achievement Award‘ India winners.

GREEN ENERGY AND GREEN LIVELIHOOD ACHEIVEMENT AWARD 2009

The Sierra Club has launched its first ever ‘Green Energy and Green Livelihoods Achievement Award’ for India. This new award aims to recognize community-led initiatives to promote green economic development, green energy innovators, renewable energy alternatives and organizational leadership in a grassroots environmental campaign. The award represents Sierra Club’s growing interest in building international partnerships to address climate change mitigation and adaptation.

This year, two organizations share the award. Ecosphere Spiti, an organization working in Himachal Pradesh to create sustainable livelihoods linked to conservation and ecotourism, and the Barefoot College in Rajasthan that applies practical, traditional knowledge and community-owned sustainable technology to reach the poorest residents of the state. The award Recommendations Board included a number of well-known figures such as Bittu Sahgal, Mihir Bhatt, Nandita Das, and also CSM’s Malini Mehra.

Each award winner will receive a $40,000 prize, and the Awards Ceremony will be held at the Ravindra Natya Mandir auditorium in Mumbai on Thursday, 30th July 2009.

Award receives tremendous response

The Sierra Club says the response to the award initiative has been extremely positive. From NGOs, to business leaders and government officials, they say that everyone seems to recognize that the world is dealing with a global threat that requires organizations to work differently, and collaborate like never before. They say “To successfully arrest climate change, it is important to build international coalitions – so that together we can make sure that leaders in government and business make decisions that are right for building long-term, environmentally sustainable economic growth.” Stephen Mills, Director of Sierra Club’s International Programme says, ‘We learned in this process just how strong and vibrant Indian civil society is. Every single person we contacted gave us valuable advice on what our role as a U.S. based organization should and should not be in India. We are especially grateful though, to our award Nominators who took time to submit nominations, and to our Recommendation Board members who volunteered their own time to evaluate the achievements of our nominees. This was not an easy task. Every single one of our nominees is worthy of recognition’.

How can membership to the CCI platform contribute to what the Sierra Club is doing?

CSM partner Sierra Club says: “For more than 100 years the members of the Sierra Club have harnessed public demand for conservation and for reducing natural resource consumption in the United States. But neither America nor India can win the battle against climate change alone. We must share resources and do this together. This is why the CCI platform is so important. It provides the opportunity for a host of organizations around the world to collaborate and to demand in unison that our leaders take action to address climate change”.

Climate Change, the Sierra Club and India

Former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern’s 2006 report on the economic impact of climate change predicted that greenhouse gas emissions, if unchecked, would cause global temperatures to rise by 2-3 degrees centigrade in the next 50 years.

Director of the Sierra Club International Programme Stephen Mills says ‘climate change is going to affect not just India, but all of humanity. It is an issue so overwhelming, so potentially devastating in consequence, that nothing less than civilization on our planet is under threat’.

In addition to diminishing India’s agricultural output, severe climate change would likely lead to more – and more devastating – natural disasters, as well as increased deaths due to higher occurrence of diseases, apart from severely affecting the country’s 7,500 kilometer-long coastline, the Himalayan glaciers, water security and the monsoons.

The big players must contribute in key ways

The Sierra Club believes that the crisis of global warming cannot be addressed adequately by the United States alone, and without effective solutions from India and China. India is one of the largest developing countries that currently need, and will require in the future, enormous supplies of energy to fuel economic development. India is also among the many emerging economies that bear little historical responsibility for creating the climate crisis, but will contribute a fair share of emissions in the future.

Hope and the serial effect

In light of this, it is hoped that success stories of grassroots leadership in green economic development from one part of India may benefit and inspire the work of struggling environmental advocates in another, and in the long run, help reduce carbon output and promote clean energy. It is also hoped that this initiative will help focus public attention on successful community organizations that are helping India leapfrog to clean energy technologies while also creating green livelihoods.

The Sierra Club hopes that the award will serve as an entry point for a series of strategic partnerships with like-minded Indian organizations, and build bridges between the U.S. and India, in order to promote solutions for climate change.

In these partnerships, the Sierra Club and Indian NGOs will collaborate to identify high leverage, scalable opportunities to accelerate India’s leapfrog strategies.

Forward Look

Sierra Club’s goal in India is to promote green economic development and where invited, to support the good work that is already being done in the country by the variety of impressive organizations, like CSM.

The Sierra Club plans a Mumbai-based “Center for Green Livelihoods” – a physical and on-line space for information on the implications of climate change in India, which will serve as a meeting point for civil society organizations, green business, and social welfare advocates.

They also hope to convene key change agents from civil society – teachers, business and social entrepreneurs, labor and community activists – to harness India’s democratic energies to overcome these barriers. One of the first big initiatives is likely to be a big conference on green jobs and green livelihoods, much like those held in the United States (visit www.greenjobsconference.org for more information).

Through these initiatives, they hope to build new relationships in India. These will better support and represent the causes and concerns on their colleagues in India, and work with organizations to conduct regional educational programs on the impact of global warming in South Asia. The goal is to enlist the support and involvement of non-resident Indians and American indiophiles in order to “green” international energy solutions.

AWARD FUNCTION DETAILS: The Chief Guest will be Dr. B.L. Mungekar, a former member of the Planning Commission of the Government of India. Mr. Jamshyd Godrej of Godrej and Boyce Mfg. will be the Guest of Honor representing the business community. CNN/IBN Environmental Editor Bahar Dutt will be the guest emcee. The event is open to the public. To attend, please contact FTC Events Ph.: +91 22.2282.5108, email: events@fravashiworld.com.

why India needs to take leadership

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Climate change – why India needs to take leadership

To mark the 60th anniversary of India’s Independence, the Centre for Social Markets (CSM) publishes a powerful new pamphlet calling for enlightened leadership on the greatest challenge of our times – climate change.

Climate Change –
Why India needs to take leadership

By Malini Mehra

Sixty years on from India’s Independence, the country is a rising global star with ambitions to match. But global climate change could wreck that rosy future. As a tropical country with a long coastline and a large population, India could be amongst the worst affected. The time to act is now. This paper makes a powerful case for enlightened leadership from India’s political class on climate change. Calling it the challenge of a generation, it argues that climate change must be re-framed not as an agenda of fear and entitlement, but of growth and opportunity. Addressing it now could be the best means for a country like India to secure peace, development and quality of life for its billion-plus people. If India truly aspires to greatness, there could be no other issue more timely or compelling.
This pamphlet is being issued as part of CSM’s initiative – a nationwide public engagement effort to generate positive action on climate change.
We invite comment and feedback on the pamphlet:
Please send your comments to info@csmworld.org marked ‘Climate Change India – Pamphlet’. Thank you.

Maldives Takes On The Climate Challenge

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MALDIVES TAKES ON THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE

On March 17th, at the launch of the British film ‘The Age of Stupid’, President of the Maldives, Mohammed Nasheed, proved a point to the world.

He unveiled a plan to make his country go carbon neutral within ten years. Ambitious as it is, this will make Maldives the first country in the world to go carbon neutral.

“If we can achieve this – a small, relatively poor country – there can be no excuse from the rich industrial nations who claim that going green is too complex, too expensive, or too much of a bother”.

“Survival is non-negotiable”

With climate change and rising sea levels, the long-term habitability and existence of the Maldives is threatened. The 200-odd inhabited islands of the Maldives are all barely 1.5 metres above sea level. Climate change is no far-fetched threat to the people of this country, but a question of survival. For these people, life atop their coral atolls is expected to be obliterated by 2100, by which time sea levels will rise more than 1.5 metres. But rather than taking the easy way out and booking a safe landing in another nation (an option that was tried and scrapped for financial reasons), Maldives is choosing the harder option of tackling climate change head on.

Here is the way

Close to one month ago, the Maldives government approached authors Matk Lynas (‘Six Degrees’) and Chris Goodall (‘Ten Technologies to Save the Planet’), for a plan to make the country go carbon neutral, and eliminate fossil fuel use by 2020. The plan is ambitious, and estimated to cost $1.1 billion over ten years, more than the country can currently afford. The economy based almost entirely on tourism and fishing, is worth about $800 million a year. But the scheme should pay for itself fairly quickly, because of the savings on oil imports, says Lynas.

Notwithstanding the cost, the Maldives aims to go through with the plan, and switch completely to renewable energy sources, for electricity, transport and cooking requirements.

Close to 155 wind turbines and a solar panel ‘field’ will provide the bulk of the electricity. To account for any variability or shortfall, they propose biomass combustion using coconut husks for the capital, and batteries for the other islands. Currently, the major source of energy for most islands is diesel generators. As for transport, the plan suggests switching from diesel and petrol to electricity generated from renewables. Cooking is mainly done through wood and kerosene, which will likely be replaced by alternatives such as solar cookers, electric stoves and efficient closed stoves. Composting organic waste will eliminate methane generation, and the resulting material will be used to improve soil fertility and crop-yields.

50,000 tourists carbon neutrality?

The one major shortfall of the plan is the issue of countering the effects of tourism. The country’s economy is heavily dependent on tourism, with 50,000 tourists visiting the Maldives each year. After electricity, the largest source of carbon emissions is aviation. The authors of the plan propose to counter this by carbon offsetting,using the EU – Emission Trading Scheme.

On a mission to prove a point

The Maldives is not the first country to announce its plan to go carbon neutral – Norway is aiming for the same by 2030. But this scheme is more ambitious, not only in its ten year target, but also in its approach. It aims to ‘diffuse the carbon bomb’ and decarbonise the economy completely – unlike Norway, which will still rely on emission offsets.

No one is suggesting that the path to carbon neutrality will be easy. But “The point of doing it”, says Lynas, “is that this is something the Maldives can lead the world in”.

Last chance to change

The announcement from the Maldives government came just days after the meeting of the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change. The conference came out with key findings including:

  • The worst-case IPCC scenarios are already being realized. There is increased risk of abrupt or irreversible climatic shifts
  • Poor nations and communities are particularly at risk. Temperature rise above 2 degrees C will be very difficult for contemporary societies to cope with
  • Rapid, effective and globally coordinated mitigation is required to ‘avoid dangerous climate change’. Weak targets now make 2050 targets harder.
  • A well-defined adaptation safety net is required to protect the poor and the most vulnerable.
  • There is no excuse of inaction
  • We must meet the challenge and seize critical opportunities.

Surely this is a mountain-sized-hint that the world must take. If the Copenhagen conference in December this year fails, the fault will lie with all countries in the world that lack the spunk to ‘be the change’.

Now the world has an opportunity to come together and prevent a looming environmental catastrophe.

That opportunity is Copenhagen.

Copenhagen can be one of two things:

It can be an historic event where the world unites against carbon pollution

Or it can be a suicide pact”

Mohammed Nasheed
President of the
Maldives

WHY NEW COAL

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Each week, we will profile a Climate Challenge India member, and keep you up to date on how they are engaging with climate change. Our first member of the week is the ‘Why New Coal’ Campaign.

Why New Coal

‘Why New Coal’, is a campaign started by Switch ON, an Indian grassroot climate action project which aims at spreading the urgency of the message, and inspires leadership for action on climate change.

‘Why New Coal began as an initiative to raise awareness and promote action towards a sustainable energy future. This campaign questions India’s over reliance on fossil fuels, and asks why new coal fired power plants are in the pipeline, when renewable alternatives exist.

India is home to 17% of the world’s population, and accounts for 3.5% of the world’s energy consumption. The country currently generates about 700 billion kWh of electricity, but this caters only to one thirds of the population. There is a need to increase electricity generation capacity by five times, from 160,000 MW to 800,000 MW by 2031, if the country is to provide ‘electricity to all’.

So far, energy, with a heavy reliance on fossil fuels, has been at the core of our development process. Three fourths of India’s electricity is generated from coal – a major contributor to global warming. Even as much as two thirds of India’s carbon dioxide emissions come from burning of coal. In addition, the Planning Commission charts the country’s future energy production to come primarily from coal, and the government of India has already approved of 213 new coal power plants over the next 8 years.

 

How can Membership of the CCI platform make a difference to what you are doing?

To build political will and encourage governments to take action for energy solutions beyond fossil fuels, we need to build a grassroots movement. Our team is putting together a documentary on coal, and a photographic exhibition of coal’s social and environmental costs.

Membership to CCI will give us a platform to use these advocacy tools in making people aware about their surroundings, and take action in their daily lives.

When the ‘Why New Coal’ campaign started to look deeper into the issue, they realized that the following issues make it clear, that making coal the backbone of our economic development will make the country a major contributor to dangerous climate change:
  • We face a climate emergency, and stand to be seriously affected by climate change. In such a situation, we must aim at sustainable and equitable development based on low carbon technologies – not coal.
  • India has only 30-40 years of extractable coal, which we mine in an extremely unsustainable and unscientific manner. We are also importing close to 12% of our coal.
  • Coal comes with massive social costs – serious health hazards, displacement and social unrest, environmental and material and relocation costs and destruction of critical water and land resources. These costs are overlooked while calculating the cost of coal-based electricity, and are the reason why coal is still economically feasible over renewable energy.
  • What options do we have? According to experts, the country needs to adopt a path of sustainable energy development, improve energy efficiency and conservation, develop and deploy renewable energy, and modernize and expand the ‘smart’ grid.

On a mission to make a point, and address these concerns, Switch ON, also initiated the India Climate Ride. Two young cyclists, Vinay Jaju and Huub Dekkers teamed up to ride across India, from Kolkata to New Delhi through Agra and India’s coal belt. The team got people to participate in the climate ride in each city, and met up with officials to get a better understanding of this complex issue. While many officials acknowledged that climate change was a serious threat, they did not see an immediate alternative to coal under the business as usual model of development.

Officials are currently able to take the back-foot on coal and energy issues because there are as yet no holistic studies on the external costs of coal and its inclusion in models of costing.

The ‘Why New Coal’ campaign was an attempt to shake peoples’ sense of complacency about the climate crisis, and highlight the fact that coal is at the core of the issue.

  

Following these insights, organizers Vinay Jaju and Ektha Kothari believe that studies that will make India’s sustainability path clear would include detailed documentation of India’s coal reserves, and the external costs of coal-based electricity.

Switch ON – in the pipeline: upcoming outreach programmes are in the form of a documentary film by Ekta Kothari on the climate ride and interviews with various energy experts; a photo-exhibition charting the journey through India’s coal belt; a project to deploy clean energy (with a focus on biomass and biogas) in rural India; and an ongoing youth outreach programme.

For more information and updates visit: http://switchon.org.in/India/ and www.whynewcoal.com