remove Launches India Initiative

European carbon removal specialists, remove, have launched an initiative to support Indian businesses in developing projects to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and mitigate global warming.

The Amsterdam-based group has raised over 220 million euros ($238 million) to support carbon dioxide removal (CDR) projects throughout Europe.

In India, successful applicants will have access to remove’s network of experts and international buyers, and could also be eligible for additional funding.

Indian projects are expected to focus on biochar and enhanced weathering to absorb CO2, said Marian Krueger, co-founder, remove.

According to reports, the value of the CDR market could rise from $2.27 billion in 2023 to around $100 billion by 2030 if barriers to growth are addressed. The European Union is exploring options to include CDR credits in its emissions trading system.

Climate change and global warming have been the reigning topics of discussion in India the past few months.

India, the world’s third-largest carbon dioxide emitter, is grappling with the impacts of climate change.

A new report reveals that a large majority of Indians are concerned about various environmental hazards, including agricultural pests, diseases, heat waves, droughts, air pollution, famines, cyclones, and floods.

• About half of Indians believe they are already being harmed by global warming (53%).
• Many fear dangerous impacts such as heat waves, species extinctions, droughts, and food shortages.
• More than a third are considering or moving due to weather events.
• However, many face difficulties due to poor access to clean water, electricity disruptions, and limited air conditioners.

The impact of global warming:

Most Indians believe global warming is primarily human-caused.

The majority of Indians, 85%, have personally experienced the effects of global warming

The majority of respondents (71% and 76%) believe that global warming significantly impacts them.

92% of respondents consider it to be extremely important (38%), very important (35%), or somewhat important (20%).

52% of respondents believe that global warnings are primarily caused by natural environmental changes.

98% of people are willing to join a community emergency response team.

75% of households anticipate that it will take several months or more for them to recover from severe floods or droughts..

About one in three people have moved or considered moving because of weather-related disasters .

Most people in India also believe that global warming affects their local weather and monsoons.

The policy push:

Most people in India support policies to address environmental problems, including training people for renewable energy jobs, teaching all Indians about global warming, funding women’s groups.

93% of people are willing to join a community emergency response team.

Only 10% believe the government is currently doing the right amount. 61% believe the government should do more.

93% of Indians are willing to make significant changes to protect the environment, including buying energy-efficient appliances and electric vehicles.

The community bond:

India’s population is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. About two in three people receive advanced warnings about extreme weather events, but about one in three do not.

A large majority of Indians are confident that their family and friends can help their local community prepare for and respond to these events.

Many people are already engaged or willing to engage in collective preparedness actions

Indigenous communities, preserving or expanding forested areas, and requiring new buildings to waste less water and energy.

The way forward:

India’s climate action plan aims to reduce emissions by 33-35% by 2030, generate 40% renewable energy, and increase forest cover. With rapid solar capacity growth, it needs $10.1 trillion in investments to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070. Education and communication strategies are crucial.

The role of CSO or chief sustainability officer in the rapidly growing financial services industry is changing. More and more CSOs are taking proactive steps to mitigate climate change in a bid to limit global warming to pre-industrial levels.

It must be noted that the IPCC has warned that to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, emissions must peak before 2025, then decrease by 40% by 2050, and a quarter by 2030.

Commitments:

A recent Deloitte and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) survey reveals that FSI leaders are aware of time constraints and have shifted their approach to managing net zero internally. According to the survey, 45% of firms now have a chief sustainability officer (CSO), with more business functions taking responsibility for specific net-zero tasks.

The firms must be at the forefront of a whole economic transition to meet decarbonization targets, the Deloitte study notes.

It found that a majority of the world’s largest publicly traded companies have yet to announce net-zero targets. Nearly two-thirds of the companies have not fully specified how they plan to reach them. However, global financial firms are moving ahead at speed, with rapid growth in net-zero commitments, particularly through the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ).

Key findings:

Financial firms must transform themselves and manage risks to drive real-world change, engaging with customers and markets, and designing credible decarbonization strategies to transition economies to a low-carbon future.

A net-zero commitment is crucial for firms to meet the climate challenge, leading to increased product innovation, enterprise engagement, and faster progress on data sourcing.

The CEO delivers the net-zero strategy, which requires tight program management across multiple divisions and operating layers.

Over 70% of firms now have a CSO or equivalent, and CSOs must be agile change agents. Talent is also increasing, with over 50% hiring to deliver net-zero strategies.

Firms are shifting their focus to new value drivers and opportunities, launching new products to accelerate clients’ transitions.

Risk skillsets are in high demand, and modeling methodologies are maturing rapidly. Firms must design credible decarbonization strategies, focusing on data, communication, and the ecosystem.

The key to effective net-zero communications is transparency, accountability, and authenticity. The only way to meet the unique nature of the climate challenge is through extensive collaboration across the entire ecosystem, including peers, clients, scientists, NGOs, governments, and regulators.

The regional divide:

The survey of global financial firms reveals significant variations in their approach to implementing and executing net-zero commitments.

The study analyzes climate risk management in businesses across different regions. Most firms incorporate net zero into risk management, but regional variations were observed. North America and the rest reported basic integration, while APAC and European businesses had more integration.

Overall, regional confidence in data accuracy was low.

Businesses in APAC and Europe frequently use shadow carbon pricing, with NGOs moderately influencing net-zero commitments. Financial sector cooperation with governmental bodies and public institutions is crucial for energy transition.

European respondents prioritize societal expectations and regulatory compliance, while North American respondents highlight the market opportunity’s scale.

Asia-Pacific participants highlight physical factors escalating climate risk, prompting businesses in developing nations and emerging markets to address the concerns of significant foreign investors.

Businesses in many geographical areas exhibited a similar pattern of integration. However, North American businesses showed similar integration patterns but reported low net-zero strategy integration with overall corporate strategy, customer screening, and product innovation.

Businesses in all regions agree that their governance systems do not effectively represent their net-zero objectives, with North America reporting the least updates or revisions.

The way forward:

The sector already shows an appetite for this challenge and an undertaking to help green the global economy. A growing number of financial institutions have pledged to make their portfolios net zero by 2050 or sooner, and a few have already started measuring their financed emissions.

Biodiversity is giving a distress call! On Global Wetland Day, I feel equally distressed to write this.

Recent headlines and devastating photographs of the destruction of our progress have caused the biodiverse ecosystem, red flags immediate action.

And it is not just the marine and the aqua industry that is feeling the impact of climate change and global warming, human lives too are being affected.

Amidst the mad industrialization, capitalism, and populism rush, it’s our silent bio-economics that has taken a turn for the worse.

Biodiversity loss impacts ecosystems as much as climate change, with approximately 10,000 species extinct annually. The World Economic Forum ranks loss of nature as a top five global economic risk. India’s biodiversity is under pressure due to population growth, economic expansion, and industrialization, making preservation and sustainable use essential national priorities.

Numerous global agencies such as the UN, the EU, and the Indian legislation are paying serious seed to the serious issues and have given a clarion call for the world to protect our environment both: on the ground and underwater.

The call to protect biodiversity is gaining momentum.

The Blue Economy, which makes use of the potential of seas, oceans, and coastal areas, has grown to be a significant subject of discussion about sustainable development. The Blue Economy, leveraging seas, oceans, and coastal regions, is crucial for sustainable development.

India, a mega-biodiverse nation, has a diverse ecosystem, including 96,000 animal and 47,000 plant species, requiring immediate action to protect its resilience. The Blue Economy is a priority under India’s G20 Presidency, aiming for sustainable economic development through the ocean and its resources.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has unveiled plans to boost Blue Economy 2.0 in yesterday’s interim budget speech. The aim is to promote climate-resilient coastal activities and sustainable development, prioritize restoration strategies, and expand aquaculture and mariculture.

Large corporates too are doing their bit. Notable among them are Godrej and Boyce who have been managing mangroves on Mumbai’s coastline since 1948. Tata Chemicals and Tata Coffee are conserving coral reefs and developing elephant-human conflict management models.

Global compliances:

The Biological Diversity Act 2002 is a crucial Indian law promoting biodiversity preservation, sustainable resource use, and equitable distribution of benefits, including knowledge management.

The country has initiated several initiatives to promote the national Blue Economy, including the Sagarmala initiative, the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, the Deep Ocean Mission, and Maritime India Vision 2030. It has also adopted the Coastal Regulation Zone notification, amended the Plastic Waste Management Rules, and introduced Extended Producer Responsibility policies.

The Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is a global initiative aiming to develop a risk management and disclosure framework for companies to report on evolving nature-related risks and opportunities. 320 organizations from 46 countries have committed to making nature-related disclosures, including leading publicly listed companies, financial institutions, banks, insurers, and market intermediaries. These organizations plan to adopt the TNFD Recommendations and publish TNFD-aligned disclosures as part of their annual corporate reporting for FY2023, FY2024, or FY2025.

The European Business and Biodiversity Campaign (EBBC) aids companies in integrating biodiversity into corporate management, supporting the EU’s 2030 biodiversity strategy to protect nature and reverse ecosystem degradation.

GRI too has updated its Biodiversity Standard, GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024, to set a global benchmark for accountability for biodiversity impacts. The revised standard supports organizations to disclose their significant impacts on biodiversity throughout their operations and value chain. The update comes amid declining biodiversity and threats to 50% of the global economy. The standard will be piloted with early adopters over two years. Available for download, it will be effective from 1 January 2026 and will be piloted with early adopters.

Our take:

The policies are in place, the regulators are updating compliance norms to protect biodiversity. It is ‘US’–The Brainy Humans who have to do our bit. Let’s be responsible, let’s act responsibly, and let’s respect biodiversity. We will certainly LAND a SEA CHANGE!

As the world works to reverse/restrict the harmful impact of deforestation, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) has signed a new collaboration partnership.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF), one of the world’s largest providers of forest finance, has joined the CPF in a bid to end deforestation and ensure the sustainable management of forests and trees.

The collaboration comes at an opportune time when the world is rapidly being depleted of its forest cover. The impact is not just on the wildlife and local indigenous people. The negative outreach spans across continents as a result of climate change and global warming. Tropical deforestation and unsustainable forest management contribute nearly 13 percent of the annual global net carbon emissions. Forest fires, heatwaves, melting glaciers, and rising sea levels bear testimony to the neglect or unscrupulous use of their resources. Forest destruction will also have a bearing on the Paris Agreement and the UNSDGs.

The partnership is the driving force for the implementation of the international forest agenda, providing technical and policy guidance and spearheading a coherent effort to meet global forest goals, GCP said in a press release.

“Sustainable forest and land use management are essential to avert catastrophic climate change, preserve biodiversity and create new sources of livelihoods. GCF is delighted to be joining the Collaborative Partnership on Forests to strengthen and deepen our engagement in this critical area. There are many barriers to financing forest conservation, sustainable use,d restoration efforts. GCF supports its partners in overcoming these barriers through policy development and de-risking the first application of new climate solutions to establish a successful track record and catalyze finance at scale,” said Yannick Glemarec, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund.

Renewable Energy Turbocharged

Tag: Global warming

remove Launches India Initiative
WriteCanvas News