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At the 64th Global Environment Facility (GEF) council meeting in Brazil, the governing body approved the disbursement of $1.4 billion to accelerate efforts to tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises.

More On the News:

• Of this, $653 million has been set aside for biodiversity and this would be used to help countries update their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, biodiversity programmes and meet the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)
• The funding package includes support for 136 countries and has a significant focus on action to address species and habitat loss, in line with the GBF.

About Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework:

• The 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) 2022. 
• The framework has 4 goals and 23 targets that the world needs to achieve by 2030.
• It will replace Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
• Through the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), countries agreed to protect 30 percent of the planet by 2030 to reverse ecosystem degradation.

Global Environment Facility:

• The Global Environment Facility (GEF), established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, is a catalyst for action on the environment. 
• Through its strategic investments, the GEF works with partners to tackle the planet’s biggest environmental issues. 
• It is a unique partnership of 18 agencies — including United Nations agencies, multilateral development banks, national entities and international NGOs — working with 183 countries.
• It is a financial mechanism for 
  1. Minamata Convention on Mercury
  2. Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
  3. United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD)
  4. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
  5. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• The GEF Trust Fund was established to help developing countries and countries with economies in transition to meet the objectives of the international environmental conventions and agreements.

News Source: Down to Earth

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The cancer research arm of the World Health Organisation (WHO) will list the popular sugar substitute aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans.

About Aspartame:

• Chemically, aspartame is a methyl ester of the dipeptide of two natural amino acids, L-aspartic acid and L-phenylalanine. 
• It is about 200 times sweeter than table sugar (a kind of sweetner), which makes aspartame far less sweet than other artificial sweeteners like advantame and neotame.
• It is preferred by people trying to cut calories or lose weight, or by diabetics, because of lower calorie content than sugar.
• Uses: Diet soft drinks, sugar-free chewing gum, sugar-free ice cream, sugar-free breakfast cereals, etc.
• Is aspartame dangerous?: More than 100 studies have found no evidence of harm caused by aspartame, including India and permit the use of aspartame.

News Source: Indian Express

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The World Economic Forum ranked India at the 67th place globally on its Energy Transition Index.

About Energy Transition Index:

• Published by: the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Accenture.
• It tracks the performance of energy systems of countries across: 
  • Economic development and growth
  • Environmental sustainability
  • Energy security
  • Access indicators and their readiness for transition to secure, sustainable, affordable and inclusive energy systems

Global Rankings and observations:

• Top 5 Countries on the List of 120 Countries:

• France(7) is the only G20 country in the top 10.
• Singapore is another major economy, along with India, showing momentum in sustainability, energy security, and equity.
• Out of 120 countries, 113 have made progress over the last decade.
• Only 55 countries, including India, have improved their scores by more than 10 percentage points.

Findings related to India:

• Towards clean energy transition: Despite continued economic growth, India has successfully reduced the energy intensity of its economy and the carbon intensity of its energy mix, while achieving universal energy access and effectively managing affordability of electricity.
• Reasons for improved performance: Achieving universal access to electricity, replacing solid fuels with clean cooking options and increasing renewable energy deployment have been primary contributors to the improvement of India’s performance.
• Insulation from global disruption: India also emerged relatively less affected from the recent energy crisis, largely due to the low share of natural gas in power generation and increased use of existing generation capacities.
• Areas demanding improvement: 
  1. Although the country maintains a well-diversified mix of energy trade partners, rising import dependence represents a risk amid global energy market volatilities.
  2. The energy mix, however, remains predominantly carbon intensive, with a low share of clean energy in final demand.
  3. The pace of thermal power plant expansion has considerably slowed in India, though strategies for early retirement or repurposing of the existing fleet will be crucial.
  4. Continued progress will be challenged by two key macro trends: strong economic growth, and the urgency to create quality jobs for a growing working age population.

News Source: The Hindu

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British children’s writer and performance poet Michael Rosen has been awarded the prestigious PEN Pinter Prize 2023.

• He was awarded because he championed a way of writing for children which reflects their everyday worlds, using humour and wordplay to validate their imaginative ways of thinking and being.

About PEN Pinter Prize

• Established in: 2009
• It is given in memory of Nobel-laureate playwright Harold Pinter. 
• The annual award is given to an author who: 
  1. must have a significant body of plays, poetry, essays, or fiction of outstanding literary merit, written in English
  2. is from the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth countries 
  3. who reflects a fierce intellectual determination to define the real truth of our lives and our societies.
• Criteria for the annual award:
  • Must have significant plays, poetry, essays, or fiction of exceptional literary merit in English.
  • Reflects a fierce commitment to uncovering the truth about our lives and societies.
  • Nationality: From the UK, Ireland, or Commonwealth countries.

News Source: Indian Express

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Recently, in a hospital in Hyderabad, a patient in the ICU with an extensive drug resistant bacterial infection, was treated under a ‘compassionate use protocol’ with a drug cefepime-zidebactam which is undergoing phase 3 trials.

What is a Compassionate use protocol ?

• It is a potential pathway for a patient with a serious life-threatening disease or condition to gain access to an investigational medical product (drug, biologic, or medical device) for treatment outside of clinical trials when no comparable or satisfactory alternative therapy options are available. 

Expanded access may be appropriate when all the following apply:

• Patient has a serious or immediately life-threatening disease or condition.
• There is no comparable or satisfactory alternative therapy to diagnose, monitor, or treat the disease or condition.
• Patient enrollment in a clinical trial is not possible.
• Potential patient benefit justifies the potential risks of treatment.
• Providing the investigational medical product will not interfere with investigational trials that could support a medical product’s development or marketing approval for the treatment indication.

News Source: The Hindu

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In a major breakthrough, an international team of astronomers announced scientific evidence confirming the presence of gravitational waves using pulsar observations.

• India’s Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) was among the world’s six large telescopes that played a vital role in providing evidence confirming the presence of gravitational waves.

Image Source: Hindustan times

About Pulsars:

• Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars that blast out pulses of radiation at regular intervals ranging from seconds to milliseconds.
• A pulsar is like a cosmic lighthouse as it emits radio beams that flashes by the Earth regularly akin to a harbour lighthouse.

Gravitational Waves:

• Gravitational waves are ripples, or disturbances, produced in the fabric of spacetime by large moving objects, something similar to the ripples produced on the surface of water by a moving boat. 
• Prediction: The existence of gravitational waves was predicted by Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity more than a century ago, but its experimental confirmation came only in 2015.
• Sources: Through collision of pairs of very large, ‘monster’, black holes, millions of times bigger than our Sun. Such large blackholes are usually found at the centres of galaxies. 
• Characteristics: Gravitational waves originating from the collision or mergers of such blackholes can have very large wavelengths, extending up to light years, and consequently, very low frequencies.

Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT):

• GMRT is a low-frequency radio telescope that helps investigate various radio astrophysical problems ranging from nearby solar systems to the edge of the observable universe. 
• Nodal Agency: It is a project of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), operating under the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). 
• Frequency: 
  1. GMRT is a unique facility functioning within the frequency bandwidth of 100 Mhz-1,500 MHz. 
  2. The GMRT enjoys special protection for carrying out its sensitive observations in the above frequency range.
• Number of telescopes: It is an array of thirty fully steerable parabolic radio telescopes of 45 metre diameter.

Recent Findings of GMRT:

• An international team of astronomers from India, Japan and Europe has published the results from monitoring pulsars, called ‘nature’s best clocks’, by using six of the world’s most sensitive radio telescopes, including India’s largest telescope, the Pune based GMRT. 
• These results provide a hint of evidence for the relentless vibrations of the fabric of the universe, caused by ultra low frequency gravitational waves.
• In order to detect gravitational wave signals, scientists explore several ultra­stable pulsar clocks randomly distributed across our Milky Way galaxy and create an imaginary galactic scale gravitational wave detector.
• Presence of gravitational waves: These telescopes measured very small delays (millionths of a second) in the signals coming from rapidly rotating stars called pulsars. 
  • Scientists propose that these delays were a result of deformities caused in space-time by gravitational waves.
  • These irregularities showed consistent effects of the presence of gravitational waves.

News Source: The Hindu

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The Centre has signalled a move towards rolling out Time-of-day (ToD) Tariff System

About Time-of-day (ToD) Tariff System:

• Time-of-day tariff norms are a set of rules and guidelines that decides  how electricity prices vary throughout the day. 
• These norms determine when electricity is cheaper or more expensive based on different time periods, such as peak, off-peak, and sometimes intermediate periods. 
• Under it, the tariff during solar hours, a duration of eight hours as specified by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, will be 10-20% lower than the normal tariff. Conversely, during peak hours, the tariff will be 10-20% higher.
• The Primary objective of time of day tariff is to disincentive higher energy consumption during the peak demand hours by raising the tariff for the period and lowering the tariff for the lean demand period.
• The new tariff system will come into effect for commercial and industrial consumers, having demand of 10 KW and above, from April 1, 2024.
• For all other consumers except those in the agricultural sector, the new tariff system will be applicable from April 1, 2025. 

Image Credits: IBEF

Benefits of Time-of-day (ToD) Tariff System :

• Facilitating Faster Energy Transition: It  will also ensure better grid integration of renewable energy sources thereby facilitating faster energy transition for India.
• Improved Management of Renewable Generation Fluctuations: It will improve the management of renewable generation fluctuations and thereby increase grid integration of larger quantities of renewable power.
• Cost Savings and Consumer Benefits: The TOD tariffs, which are separate tariffs for peak hours, solar hours, and normal hours, send price signals to consumers to manage their load according to the tariff. With awareness and effective utilisation of the ToD tariff mechanism, consumers can reduce their electricity bills.
• Infrastructure Investment and Maintenance: If the load on the grid during peak consumption hours goes down, the requirement for additional investments in grid infrastructure for maintenance and upgradation also declines over the medium to long term.
• Better Integration of Renewable Energy:The government also expects the ToD tariff structure to lead to better integration of renewable energy sources with the country’s electricity grid, which will hopefully expedite India’s energy transition. 

India’s Power Sector:

• India is the third-largest producer and consumer of electricity worldwide, with an installed power capacity of 411.64 GW as of January 31, 2023.
• As of January 31, 2023, India’s installed renewable energy capacity (including hydro) stood at 168.4 GW, representing 40.9% of the overall installed power capacity. 
• Solar energy is estimated to contribute 63.3 GW, followed by 41.9 GW from wind power, 10.2 GW from biomass, 4.92 GW from small hydropower, 0.52 from waste to energy, and 46.85 GW from hydropower.

Challenges:

• Coal Sourcing Issues: The insufficient availability of domestic coal is a key impediment to the power generation industry. Coal mining efficiencies and transportation challenges make procuring coal difficult.
• Grid Operational Challenges: Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar have high variability in their generation due to weather conditions.
• International Impacts: Global supply disruptions due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict have sent coal prices touching historical highs. For Example: The cost of imported coal in India is expected to be 35 per cent higher in the fiscal year 2022-23 compared to the past year. 
• Power Generation and Supply Gap: India continues to face a significant gap between power generation capacity and demand, resulting in frequent power shortages and inadequate electricity access in certain regions. 
• Financial Viability and Discoms’ Health: Many Discoms struggle with financial viability due to issues like high transmission and distribution losses, inefficient billing and collection systems, and inadequate tariff structures.
• Inadequate Transmission Infrastructure: Insufficient transmission capacity and bottlenecks in grid infrastructure hinder the smooth transfer of power across regions. 
• Environmental and Sustainability Concerns: India’s power sector, primarily dependent on coal, contributes to environmental challenges such as air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Initiatives by the Government to boost the Indian power sector are as below:

• Issuance of Sovereign Green Bonds: Under the Union Budget 2022-23, the government announced the issuance of sovereign green bonds, as well as conferring infrastructure status to energy storage systems, including grid-scale battery systems.
• Green Energy Corridor Projects: The Green Energy Corridor projects have been initiated to facilitate renewable power evacuation and reshaping the grid for future requirements. For Example: As of October 2022, 8651 km of intra-state transmission lines have been constructed and 19,558 MVA intra-state substations have been charged.
• Various Government Schemes: Electrification in the country is increasing with support from schemes like:
  •  Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY)
  •  Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY)
  • Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS).
  • The Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana
• Promoting Renewable Energy: To encourage rooftop solar (RTS) throughout the country, Ministry New and Renewable Energy has developed a National Portal wherein any residential consumer from any part of the country can apply for rooftop solar.
• Privatisation of Power Departments & Utilities: Government of India announced privatisation of Power Departments & Utilities in Union Territories under Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan with the objective of providing better services to consumers with improvement in operational and financial efficiencies.

Way Forward:

• Minimise Losses: Empower electricity regulators to help bring down discom losses. Despite two decades of sectoral reforms, the aggregate losses of discoms stand at 21 per cent (2019-20).
• Grid Modernization and Expansion: Invest in upgrading and expanding the transmission and distribution infrastructure to ensure efficient power transfer, minimise losses, and enable seamless integration of renewable energy. 
• Policy and Regulatory Reforms: Provide a stable and transparent policy environment with clear regulations and long-term visibility on tariffs and contracts.
• Public-Private Partnerships: Foster collaboration between the government and private sector entities to leverage their respective strengths and resources.

News Source: Live Mint

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