Page-3 of Topic: Carbon dioxide

The 26th BASIC Ministerial Meeting of Environment Ministers was held in Durban, South Africa. India was represented by Union Environment Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan. In it, Dr Vardhan reiterated his appeal to make joint efforts to create a societal movement in combating climate change through “Green Good Deeds”. He told his counterparts from BASIC countries and Michal Kurtyka of Poland, who will take over as next president of Conference of Parties (COP-24), that India has shown the vision and the political will to act. The Basic countries is a bloc of four countries – Brazil, South Africa, India and China, formed by an agreement on November 28, 2009. In a joint statement issued, the Basic countries had committed to work together with other parties to ensure the full, effective and sustained implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), its Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement.

The world’s first negative emissions plant under the CarbFix Project to turn atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) into stone has begun operations in Hellisheidi, Iceland. It is intended to lock away carbon dioxide by reacting it with basaltic rocks. Work on the project began in 2007.

CarbFix Project

In it, the CO2 is captured from ambient air, bound to water, and sent to more than 700 meters underground. There, the CO2 reacts with the basaltic bedrock using enhanced weathering process and forms solid minerals, creating a permanent storage solution.
Currently, the system captures only 50 metric tons CO2, each year, about same emitted by a single US household. It can remove an estimated 50 metric tons of CO2 from the air in a year. It pumps the collected gas deep into the island’s volcanic bedrock, where it reacts with basalt and essentially turns into limestone.

The world’s first negative emissions plant that turns carbon dioxide (CO2) into stone has begun operations in Hellisheidi, Iceland. In it, the CO2 is captured from ambient air, bound to water, and sent to more than 700 meters underground. There, the CO2 reacts with the basaltic bedrock and forms solid minerals, creating a permanent storage solution. Currently, the pilot system captures only 50 metric tons CO2, each year, about the same emitted by a single US household.

According to study conducted by researchers from University of Southampton, UK, extreme global warming event 56 million years ago was driven by massive carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from volcanoes, during formation of North Atlantic Ocean.
They had used combination of new geochemical measurements and novel global climate modelling to show that Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was associated with rapid doubling of atmospheric CO2 in less than 25 thousand years because of CO2 emissions from volcanoes.

Key Facts

The PETM was most rapid and extreme natural global warming event of last 66 million years. It had lasted for around 150 thousand years and increased global temperatures by at least 5 degrees Celsius. Its period coincided with the formation of massive ‘flood basalts’ — large stretches of ocean floor coated in lava, resulting from of a series of huge eruptions.
Earlier it was suggested that PETM event was caused by injection of CO2 into ocean and atmosphere, but ultimate trigger source of CO2 was not known. Now researchers believe that, the CO2 was released during land drifts, separating Greenland from north-western Europe, thereby creating North Atlantic Ocean.
During this time, more than 10,000 petagrammes of CO2 was released predominantly from volcanic source. This is a vast amount of CO2, 30 times larger than all fossil fuels burned to date and equivalent to all current conventional and unconventional fossil fuel reserves.

China has launched a 620-kg satellite TanSat into orbit to monitor global carbon dioxide levels to understand climate change. The satellite was put into orbit by Long March-2D rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre located in Gobi Desert. Apart from TanSat satellite, a high-resolution micro-nano satellite and two spectrum micro-nano satellites for agricultural and forestry monitoring were also launched. The satellite placed in the sun-synchronous orbit will monitor the concentration, distribution and flow of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. It will monitor global carbon dioxide levels every 16 days accurate to atleast 4 parts per million (ppm). With this launch, China has become the third country after Japan and the US to monitor greenhouse gases with the help of its own satellite.

Remotely Operated Vehicle sent down by scientists of the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) has captured a rare glimpse beneath the Antarctic sea ice through a small hole drilled in the ice. It also recorded the acidity, oxygen, salinity and temperature of the seawater in the area. The footage captured by the robot reveals a productive, colourful and dynamic habitat filled with a wide variety of biodiversity like coconut-shaped sponges, dandelion-like worms, pink algae and spidery starfish etc. These species were found to survive in water that is -1.5 degrees Celsius all round the year and covered in 1.5 metres of sea ice for almost ten months of the year. Scientists in Antarctica are working to understand the impact of acidification on Southern Ocean sea-floor communities with increase in carbon dioxide emissions.

About quarter of the Carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean. Carbon dioxide is more soluble in cold and polar water and will increase the acidity of the sea water.

As per the report “Trends in global CO2 emissions”, there is a 3% surge in the global carbon dioxide (CO2) emission in 2011. The 3 % increase took the total amount of CO2 in air at an all-time high of 34 billion tonnes. The report was published by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL).

As per the the report:

· The U.S. emits 17.3 tones per capita of CO2 . It is still one of the top emitters.

· China with an average of 7.2 tonnes per capita emission saw an increase by 9% in CO2 emission.

· The per capita emission of 27-nation European Union was 7.5 tonnes.

· The 34-nation Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries was responsible for only 1/3^rd of global CO2 emissions in 2011.

Canada quits Kyoto

• Complaining that Kyoto Protocol does not cover the world’s two largest emitters, the United States and China, and therefore cannot work, Canada has quit the Kyoto Protocol.
  
• The Protocol originally covered countries generating less than 30 per cent of global emissions and now it covered less than only 13 per cent and that number was only shrinking.
• Canada’s withdrawal comes at a time when it has increasingly gained the reputation of a climate “renegade” that has encouraged the rampant use of polluting energy platforms. For example, oil sands production, one of the most polluting forms of oil extraction, is at the heart of Canada’s discussion with the U.S. regarding the now-infamous Keystone Pipeline.
  

India to keep watch on Chinese naval facility in Seychelles

• With China planning a supply and recuperation facility in the Indian Ocean archipelago nation of Seychelles, India said it will “watch” the development and how Beijing uses this arrangement in this strategically-important location.

India, ADB inks pact for $113 mln loan for HP Clean Energy project

• The government signed a 113 million dollar loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Himachal Pradesh Clean Energy Transmission Investment Programme (HPCETIP). It is the first loan in a 350 million dollar multi-tranche financing facility for the upgrading of transmission system to help Himachal Pradesh take greater advantage of its vast hydropower resources.

Retired Judge Tapan Mukherjee to head AMRI inquiry: CM

• The judicial inquiry into AMRI fire incident that claimed 93 lives on December 9 would be headed by retired Judge Tapan Mukherjee.

Norway to give technical support to Haryana in child care

• The Haryana government signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with United Nations Office for Project Services-Norway-India Partnership Initiative (UNOPS-NIPI) to get technical support for health care needs of new born and child care. The purpose of the partnership is to pool the technical and managerial resources for the advancement of newborn health care activities in the State.

India to install radiation monitors at all major ports

• Government has decided to install radiation monitors at all major ports in the country by 2012 to scan imported scrap for radiation. Presently Indian ports do not have any equipment to scan imports for radiation. Meanwhile, China has reportedly decided to install radiation monitors at Shanghai s premier Yangshan port as part of a collaborative non-proliferation effort with the United States providing China with a comprehensive screening capability

Karnataka passes Citizens’ Charter Bill

• In a major initiative, the Karnataka Assembly unanimously passed ‘The Karnataka Guarantee of Services to Citizens’ Bill, 2011′.
• The Bill seeks to provide guarantee for 152 services in 11 departments

No move to regulate Internet content

There is no proposal from Govt to formulate a mechanism to regulate content on the worldwide web.

India to develop facilities near China border

• Conscious of China developing infrastructure in the border regions opposite India in Tibet and Xinjiang Autonomous Regions there, the government is giving careful and special attention’ to the development of infrastructure in the border areas opposite China to meet our strategic and security requirements and also to facilitate the economic development of these areas.

DR Congo opposition calls for mass protests

• Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi’s party called for mass protests to “protect” the victory he claims to have won in disputed presidential polls.
• The Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) declared President Joseph Kabila the winner of the November 28 vote, provoking violent protests and looting in the capital and calls from opposition leaders for the international community to intervene.

India agrees to legally binding emission cuts in Durban climate deal

• India at Durban has for the first time agreed to binding emission cuts, with all other major emitters, but the quantity of cuts would be based on equity. The 194 countries have agreed on a roadmap for a 2015 accord that will, for the first time, legally force all major emitters of greenhouse gases to reduce their emissions. Thus, India has now three years to decide how much carbon emissions reductions it would be willing to take after 2020. However, the new emission reduction regime will be based on equity. A country like India which has much lower emissions than China would be given a lower reduction target.
• India had so far refused to agree to emission cuts till its per capita emissions rise above average per capita emissions of the developed world.
• The US which had opted out of the Kyoto Protocol has now also come on board.
  
• The parties would develop a new protocol, another legal instrument or agreed outcome with legal force that would be applicable under the UN climate convention. The new treaty would come into force by 2020.
• The countries will begin negotiations for new deal that covers all countries next year. They have agreed to the second commitment period under Kyoto Protocol, the only legally-binding treaty for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
  
• Kyoto Protocol treaty, which expires next year, mandates the 37 industrialised nations and the EU to cut carbon emissions to five per cent below the 1990 levels by 2012. But it exempts developing countries like China and India from any meeting any targets. The US had chosen to remain out of the Kyoto Protocol.

Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan selected for Mansur Award

• Sarod Maestro Amjad Ali Khan has been selected for the prestigious Mallikarjun Mansur Award for musicians for the year 2011. The award given for achievements in the field of classical music carried a cash prize of Rs one lakh, a memento and a plaque. So far only vocalists were being conferred this award.

State Bank of India commences operations in Qatar

• State Bank of India (SBI), country’s largest bank, has commenced operations in Qatar recently with the opening of a branch in Qatar Financial Centre, Doha. The branch is fully equipped with state of the art technological infrastructure. SBI is the country s largest Commercial bank with more than 13,700 branches in India and 170 overseas offices in 34 countries.

Lt Gen Sujlana sworn in as PPSC Chairman

• Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil sworn in as Chairman of Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC).

BCCI terminates Nimbus contract

• The Indian cricket board erminated the contract of Nimbus, which holds telecast rights for international matches at home.

Delhi Metro has become the first such railway project in the world to get carbon credits from UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol, for helping in reduction of greenhouse emissions. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has helped in reduction in emission of harmful gases into the city’s atmosphere. In the process, it has earned carbon credits worth about Rs 47 crore annually for the next seven years. “With the increase in number of passengers, this figure shall increase. According to the UN, Delhi Metro has helped in reducing pollution levels in the city by 6.3 lakh tonnes every year, thereby helping in mitigating impacts of global warming. “Today, about 18 lakh people travel by Delhi Metro that is completely non-polluting and environment friendly. But for the Metro, these people would have travelled by cars, buses, two/three wheelers, which would have resulted in GHG emission.