The price of carbon credits is likely to double this year, due to a recovery in demand from the European Union.

A recent report by Barclays Capital, the global consultancy firm, forecast the Certified Emission Reduction (CER) price to surge 92 per cent in the first half of this year. Indian analysts estimate it would almost double before the end of 2012. Currently, a CER unit for near-month delivery on the European Energy Exchange is quoted at 3.55 euros.

The Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme to encourage energy saving in energy intensive sectors such as power, steel and cement has begun to attract companies to its fold, according to CII Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Government of India, has included cement manufacturers among top nine energy consuming sectors which require efforts to improve efficiencies and bring down power consumption.

Officials Blame Process Of Penalizing, Lax Implementation For Ban’s Failure.

While they are a step in the right direction, the new e-waste regulations contain no specific guidelines on many crucial issues and risk falling flat, say experts. “We fear that companies might set up token take-back systems which are not really accessible to consumers. In addition, there is no financial incentive. E-waste in India is considered to be of value. If there is no financial incentive, the waste will still make its way to the informal recycling sector,” said Priti Mahesh of Toxics Link.

The Advisor to Ministry of Environment and Forests, G. V. Subrahmanyam, has said that people's participation in environment protection alone can bring the desired results more than any number of legislations brought by the Government.

“Protecting the environment is for our own future and not for anybody else. You can have any number of legislations…but the implementation is done by local people. Any campaign on climate change or environmental issues can be successful only when all of us come together,” he said, while speaking at the Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE) here on Friday.

If BRT corridor was meant to be a panacea for the never ending traffic woes and ever increasing automobile pollution of the national Capital, it failed in its objective. The idling time at the Chirag Dilli intersection on BRT corridor is double the time vehicles spend idling at ITO, perceived to be busiest intersection of the city.

When the first set of detailed data from Census 2011, Houses, Households Amenities and Assets, was released a couple of weeks ago, there was much flinching at the fact that around half of all Indians still defecate in the open. The census data also showed that piped and treated drinking water is presently enjoyed by just a third of Indian households.

Now, the aim of providing sanitation and piped drinking water for all will demand increasing allocations. But the CSE report Excreta Matters: How urban India is soaking up water, polluting rivers and drowning in its own excreta shows that mere money just can’t solve the problem.