Additional global investments of as much as $10 trillion : climate change

The world’s leaders gathered last week to tackle our greatest shared crisis: climate change. The summit, CoP 29, promised a historic breakthrough — a financial deal to compensate the Global South for the damage caused by the Global North. The Global South walked away with a fraction of what’s needed and an even smaller fraction of what’s fair. The failure to meet financial goals appear to be the looming threat of the United States of America abandoning climate action under the new president elect. Its an unequivocal endorsement of oil, natural gas, and coal. New president elect is in favour of restoring America’s energy dominance and lead the world in energy expansion. There is plentiful shale gas and so defence for fracking exists.Support is also raised for ‘clean coal’ power outfitted with carbon capture technology as well as natural gas mined from coal beds. Under new president elect of US, the sea level rise is no problem because it would just create “more oceanfront property”. Government subsidies can be driven by efforts to slow carbon pollution. India will be especially impacted. Reference is to the traumatic event in India where temperatures reached a deadly ‘wet-bulb’ level wherein humidity is so high that sweat cannot effectively cool the body amidst deadly high temperatures. Thousands died due to the heat wave — a scenario that seems increasingly real: this past June, 37 cities across India reported surpassing 45 degree celsius. Variable weather conditions bringing renewable power generation up and down in winter are normal and to be expected, and days of low wind generation will invariably lift the call on gas-fired power plants (where coal share in energy fix is falling and rise of gas fired electricity is on rise),which continue to act as the main back-up capacity to wind. This in turn will trigger short-term spikes in gas demand. When this happens during episodes of cold temperatures (which increase both gas and electricity demand for heating), spikes in gas use can be important. This is true for EUs and thus can potentially raise price for imported gas for Asian regions, which are price sensitive. Here dependency on coal-fire power plants is to rise to meet the power demand. India's growing investments in semiconductor manufacturing has become a potential power demand centres. more  

https://www.dailypioneer.com/2024/columnists/delhi---s-pollution-crisis--a-call-for-sustainable-solutions.html "One of the most contributing factors of pollution, according to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), is ‘vehicular pollution’ which remains the most significant contributor to Delhi’s air pollution, accounting for 51.1 per cent of emissions from all local sources, despite technical interventions aimed at reducing emissions. CSE’s analysis highlights a persistent ‘mobility crisis’ in the city, characterised by systemic shortcomings in the public transport infrastructure despite years of investment.... The state of public transportation in Delhi remains deeply inadequate. According to a report Delhi currently has approximately 45 buses per 100,000 residents, based on data from the 2011 census." "...Therefore, enhancing public transportation systems is a pivotal strategy for addressing the challenges posed by urban mobility and environmental sustainability in Delhi. Key measures such as improving last-mile connectivity, reducing fares to ensure affordability for a broader demographic, and expanding the public transport fleet to accommodate the city’s growing population are essential for reducing the dependence on private vehicles." more  

Diesel and petrol run vehicles outweigh CNG benefits. more  

Power generation costs are increasing (ET Bureau, Oct 20, 2024). Therefore India is considering halting the installation of new flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) units at public sector coal-based power plants as a study by CSIR-NEERI found sulphur dioxide(SO2) emissions from these plants do not significantly impact ambient air quality. The move apparently aims to manage power generation costs. The cost of FGD has surged from Rs 35 lakh to Rs 1 crore per MW in the last eight years.This amounts to an additional charge of 0.50 paise per unit of electricity if the technology is installed in power plants. The current major issue is cost. If a coal-fired plant of 250 MW is going to invest around Rs 250 crore, they also look for returns, which is absent from the government's plan. India’s domestic FGD technology manufacturing capacity is too low. It is around 10% of the total requirement. India’s public undertaking BHEL manufacturing costs of FGDs come around Rs 1-1.2 crore per MW. The cost economics of FGD installation in TPPs(thermal power plants) depends on various factors including plant size and the chosen technology. Out of the two wet and dry FGD technologies, wet scrubbers have SO2 removal efficiencies of more than 90 per cent while FGD systems based of dry scrubbing have removal efficiencies of around 80 per cent. FGD systems are financed in a 75:25 debt-equity ratio. However, banks are reluctant to extend financing to TPPs given the current uncertain economic climate, the rise of renewables, their declining costs, and the huge portfolio of non-performing assets originating, to a significant extent, from power sector lending. Therefore, power generation companies are finding it difficult to secure funding for these projects. Coal fired power plants face choices - to run with domestic coal or with imported coal. With declining share of coal in electricity generation on global scale, imported coal may come somewhat cheaper and may contain high sulphur content than domestic ones. more  

Britain's last coal-fired power plant shuts down. Britain’s transition to a low-carbon future has reached a milestone with the closure of its last remaining coal-fired power plant at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire. At the start of the 20th century almost 100% of Britain’s electricity was generated by coal plants. By 1950, its dominance remained largely unchallenged at 96%, and in the late 1960s and 1970s Britain’s state-owned Central Electricity Generating Board ushered in a new generation of super coal plants. By the 1990s, Britain’s (i)dash for gas power and (ii)rising environmental concerns spelled the beginning of a long existential decline for coal. Coal plants became increasingly expensive to run owing to regulations that called for costly upgrades to help reduce pollution.By 2020, coal power had dwindled to just 1.8% of the UK’s electricity mix, and in 2021 the government brought forward the ban to October 2024. Now Britain has a world-class facility with world-class service - `Grain LNG' - it is the Britain’s leading gateway connecting global LNG to the European energy market via cost effective, flexible and secure capacity. Grain LNG is the gateway connecting worldwide LNG to the European energy market, making a genuine difference to people's lives. Grain LNG is at the forefront of energy as Britain moves towards net zero. more