Cement, Energy and Environment

However, these are far from commercialisation stage. And even when they come into being, they truly do not help avoid emissions. These technologies only get more energy for the same amount of coal. Emissions per tonne of coal do not come down with these technologies. For sure, CCS is very expensive. The Boundary Dam project is estimated to have cost a billion dollars. The big question is, how to finance these projects. The sensible way is to pitch for a slice of global climate funds. The annual climate conferences under the aegis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have been talking of mobilising $100 billion a year until 2020.This target is woefully short of the need, and the actual mobilisation is even smaller. However, it is a fair assumption at this point in time that the urgency of the situation will galvanise the developed countries into contributing meaningfully. Market revival There is a strong likelihood of revival of the moribund carbon markets. On July 15, the World Bank held a first-of-its kind auction - of rights to sell carbon credits at a guaranteed price. Bidders who wanted the least guaranteed price got the right, but not the obligation, to sell carbon credits to a World Bank-managed fund. Twelve companies won the 'put options'. There will be demand for carbon credits because at the forthcoming Conference of Parties at Paris, countries will commit themselves to voluntary emission reductions (called, INDCs, for intended nationally determined contributions). Meeting the commitments could spur carbon markets, as countries that cannot effect reductions on their soil can buy the offsets. CCS qualifies for carbon credits. NTPC, for instance, can earn carbon credits for its CCS projects and sell them in the market. India's coal strategy, therefore, ought to be to build CCS projects and get them financed by global climate funds. In fact, it is not even strategy -there is truly no other option. Courtesy: Business Line, 09.08.2015, from Internet INDIA'S INDCS FOR UN PARIS SUMMIT TO BE COMPREHENSIVE Ahead of the crucial UN climate change conference in Paris, India today said it will present a "comprehensive" plan to combat climate change unlike most other countrieswhose 'Intended Nationally Determined Contributions' (INDCs) reflect only mitigation measures. Environment minister Prakash Javadekar said: "We are at an advance stage of preparing our INDC. For the last eight months, we have been engaged in this exercise and widest consultations have taken place with all ministries, state governments, research institutes, industry, think tanks and many organisations. "Our INDCs will be comprehensive. Many countries who have submitted their INDCs talk only about mitigation. But the world has now accepted that mitigation and adaptation both carry same importance. We have created two templates for it. "All elements will be part of our INDCs - mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology and capacity building." He added that this was the mandate of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and India's INDC will reflect this mandate. All countries are either in the process or have submitted their INDCs in the run up to the Paris climate change conference, which will pave the way for a global climate pact. More than 50 countries, including China, the US. and the European Union - the world's three largest emitters - have already released their INDCs. All countries are expected to submit them by 30 September. The minister said that at India's insistence, France has started the initiative of having informal meetings before the Paris summit. "We, right from day one, said that there are issues and differences of opinion on differentiation. ambition, finance, technology and legal nature of agreement which we must discuss at various forums point by point...We consistently demanded and many countries supported it," he said. He said that India will hold a meeting of ike-Minded Developing Countries' (LMDCs) in September on climate change. "We will have also have an Indian pavilion in Paris. Many bilaterals will also take place simultaneously," Javadekar said . Courtesy: The Statesman, 25.08.2015, from Internet 28