Cement, Energy and Environment July-Sep 2002

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT \\'ORLD Slll\1l\11T ON St'ST \INABLE DE\'ELOl'l\IENT (\VSSD) IN .JOHA:"lNESBlJRG The 55'" Ge neral Assemb ly Sess ion decided in December 2000 that the Commi ssion on Sustainable Devel opment wou ld serve as the central organ izing body for the 2002 Wo rl d Summit on Susta inable Development. WSSD is scheduled to be held from 26 August to 4 September, 2002 at Johannesburg in outh Africa. The General Assembly also decided th at the Comm ission on Sustainabl e Deve lopment (CSD) wou ld se rve as the ce ntral organizing body forrhe Summit and co-ord inate a comprehensive I0- year review of progress achieved in the implementation of Agenda 21. Wor ld gove rnments, concerned c it izens, UN agencies, multilateral fina ncial instituti ons, and other major groups are expected to parti c ipate and assess globa l change si nce the United Na tions Conference on Envi ronment and Development (UNCED) in 1992. Johannesburg Summit 2002 is an attempt to find answers to a few of the questions like: Whnt accomplishments have been made since 1992? How have partiCipati ng co untri es been impl emen ting Agenda 2 1? Have th ey ado pted the Na ti ona l ustainable Development Strategies as they agreed they would by 2002? !lave they ratified the conventions they agreed to since 1992? What obstac les have they encou ntered? Wha t lesso ns have they lea rn er about what work s and what docs not work'! What new issues have eme rged to chan ge the situation ? What mid-course corrections need to be made to reac h the goa ls? Where shoulcl we foc us further efforts? Courte:,y: Green /?usincss Oppor11111iIies. Apr-Jun. n2. I' 38. Fox. -168 2229 Emai f· shikluujainfi/!_ciio11! i 11e. com .JAPAN ACTS ON KYOTO PLEDGE In a bid to meet carbon dioxide em iss ion ta rgets under the Kyoto Protoco l. Japan has taken up a proj ect to repair thermal power plants in Kaza kh s tan. Thi s is Japan's fi rst agreement under the c lea n de ve lopment mechani sms (COM) within the Kyoto Protoco l. CDM all ows in dustrialised nati ons to inves t in environment-friendl y energy proj ects si ted in developing countries. As a part oft he swap deal, clevc lopecl countries get c lean air credi ts. New Energy and l!1dustrial Technology Deve lopmen t Orga nisat ion (NEDO), a semi– governmental organ isation under the Japanese ministry has inked the pact with Ka za kh s tan. Thi s agreement will help reduce 62,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emi ssions from these plants. LJnd e r th e protocol, industri alised nat ions mu st cu t emi ss ions o f g ree nhouse gases (G l-IG) by an average of fi ve per cent from 2008 to 2012 as compared to the 1990 levels. Japan pledged to reduce its emissions by six per cent. But as Japan accounted for nearly 8.5 perce nt of th e total g lobal emi ss ions of GHG in 1990, the Kazakhstan agreement would only contribute a small shai·e towards this percentage. Courle.\)" Duu·nJo Earth. .i ug 15. 02. P-2 5. Fax IJ/-11-60858-9 Email: cse((/lcseindia. org lfleh: ll'l l'll' .cseindia.org ENVIRONMENTALLY HARMLESS BIODEGRADABLE GREASES S. fllalw111 i, (Joumal Technology Trends {E/ecrama-2002 Special). J 'o/.2. No. 12. Decemher 200 I. pp. 53-56 Environ ment ally friendly lubrica nts inc luding greases are relatively a new development. There is stil l some controversy over what makes a lubricant environmentally friendly. Nevertheless, it has been poss ible to design products meeting almost all performance criteria and at the same time hav in g low environmental impact. In this era of increasing env ironmental awareness, Bi odegradable Lubricating Greases arc becomi ng more an d more relevant to the Lubri cant Manufactures and users. C 'ourtesy Water & £ner;o• rl b.\lracts. CBIP. Jcm.-.\far 02. t> /9 Fax: 91-l !-61!63r £moil: cbiprii'nda.r.\'1/l.nef. in J I 'eb: ll'll'l l'.cbip. org THE FLYASII BURDEN Anand Srivastava The Notification • By September 2002, a ll old coal or lign ite-based power plants to ensure 20 per cent utilisation of fl y ash. New ones to ensure 30 per cent uti Iisation. • Use 25 per ce nt n yas h in bricks and blocks made close to power thermal plants. • rlyash to be made avai!able lo r free.