Sunny climate stormy climate | Weekly digest #52
This week: India has an innovative solution to bring electric buses to cities, protests about water pollution in Ludhiana and a new research that shows transport noise impairs reading ability
Hello folks!
Welcome to your weekly dose of climate news where I bring one sunny story that gives hope and two stormy ones that are a cause for alarm. Hope you like them!
🌞 Sunny news 🌞
1. A case study from India: How cities are electrifying their bus fleets in a cost effective way
What are we talking about?
We are talking about a financial model run by Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) - a govt. owned enterprise set up in 2020 to promote renewable energy - that is helping Indian cities electrify their bus fleets.
When CESL was set up in 2020, its leader Mahua Acharya, had an impossible task - To electrify India’s fleet of public buses, which transport 128 million people a day.
The solution: She grouped together 5 major cities for 2 giant acquisitions of buses. They called it the ‘Grand challenge’. Instead of buying buses, the cities would bid out to private companies the opportunity to run the entire bus service over 12 years. Each manufacturer—including Tata Motors Ltd., India’s largest bus maker—assembled a consortium of operators to provide the drivers, e-buses, battery replacements, charging stations and maintenance. The groups would compete for a contract that specified a per-kilometer price.
The result:
The municipalities ended up paying just shy of INR 49/km, 27% less than the cost of operating with CNG without the need for subsidies.
It enabled commissioning of 29,000 e-buses by 2024, up from fewer than 500 four years ago.
Why does this matter?
Electrifying city bus fleets brings many benefits
Reduce air pollution - Many of our cities have been in the news for their terrible air quality over the last few years. In fact, Indian cities have some of the most polluted air in the world. Switching from diesel powered vehicles to electric ones is a very effective way of reducing air pollution in the city.
In line with net zero goals - This takes us closer to meeting out net zero goals. While majority electricity generated in India is still coal powered, and it will take us some time before we shift completely to renewable power, setting up the supporting infrastructure - EV manufacturing, batteries, charging stations - that we are doing as we move to electric buses, is also an essential part in reaching the net zero goal.
Acharya’s approach could be a model for climate and transportation around the developing world. 9 countries, including Brazil, Kenya and Mexico, as well as the European Union are looking to replicate her approach
Sources for further reading
🌩️ Stormy news 🌩️
2. Kale paani ka morcha: Farmers from Punjab and Rajasthan lead protests to stop pollution of the Sutlej
What is happening?
The 'Kale Pani Da Morcha' is a protest movement that started in August this year to call attention to the continuing pollution in the ‘Buddha nala’ in Ludhiana.
Last week farmers from Rajasthan and Punjab tried marching to Ludhiana to protest the Sutlej pollution after the government missed the December 3 deadline to take action, however they were stopped from reaching the city.
How did we get here?
This is not a new issue. Pollution of the Sutlej has been an issue for the last 40 years.
‘Buddha Nala’ that empties into the River Sutlej in Ludhiana is the main source of the pollution.
It was once a freshwater stream known as ‘Buddha Dariya (old stream)’ - Buddha Nullah originates in Ludhiana’s Koom Kalan village and runs for 47 km till Walipur Kalan, where it merges with River Sutlej. Sutlej in turn feeds water into Rajasthan’s irrigation canals.
The main sources of pollution of Buddha Naala -
Untreated sewage waste from Ludhiana city Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs)
Untreated industrial effluents from 265 dyeing units (Ludhiana is a major hub for the hosiery goods)
Although the industry claims that only water treated at the 3 Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) is sent into the stream, activists claim that the untreated waste is what renders the water its black colour.
100s of “outlets” identified by civic bodies dumping all sorts of waste into the stream including cow dung from several dairies located in the vicinity of the naala.
The case is currently being heard in the National Green Tribunal.
In November 2018, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposed a fine of Rs 50 crore on the Punjab government for failing to control pollution in Sutlej and Beas rivers. But no significant action has been taken by the government to actually stop the pollution.
In August this year, the Punjab pollution control board found that the discharge from the effluent treatment plants used by the dyeing industries did not meet the discharge standards. They also gave an order directing the industries to stop discharge into the Buddha Naala but no action has been taken.
In September, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced a 3-phase plan to clean the stream in a tie-up with Nebula Group and said that the target would be to “make the water fit for drinking.” However, according to the activists, “nothing really happened on the ground”
Why does this matter?
Health: The polluted waters are having a severe health impact. People in Punjab’s Malwa region and the neighbouring state of Rajasthan were forced to drink contaminated water which has resulted in diseases such as cancer, hepatitis C, liver cirrhosis, skin disorders and eye ailments among others.
“We are protesting because if we still not wake up, our next generations would have no chance at a decent life,” said 45-year-old Rajwinder Kaur of Goniana Mandi in Bathinda. “Every household has a cancer patient now because of environmental pollution.”
Flooding: When the river floods, the black water from the naala enters the houses in the vicinity and is again a cause for disease.
Irrigation: The waters from Sutlej enter the irrigation canals in Rajasthan and are thus making their way into crops.
What can be done?
Industries need to take responsibility for the waste they generate. The industries have to adopt Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD), a water treatment process. “No industry waste, treated or untreated, should go into the Buddha nala ,” said an activist.
Sources for further reading
3. Children’s reading ability impaired due to transport noise - a research in EU
What is happening?
Noise exposure from road, rail and air transport adversely affects over half a million children’s (aged 6-17) reading ability annually in Europe, the European Environment Agency (EEA) stated in a report released last week. They also saw almost 60,000 cases of behavioural difficulties per year.
Children living or attending school in areas affected by transport noise tend to score lower on reading comprehension and face more behavioural challenges.
Why does this matter?
Chronic exposure to environmental noise significantly affects physical and mental health. Environmental noise from transport sources such as vehicles, trains and aircraft is among the most damaging environmental factors to health in Europe after air pollution.
This is particularly bad for children as they are in an important learning and developmental phase
While there is no research done on this in India, this is likely to be similar if not worse for most Indian cities.
Sources for further reading
You can read previous editions of the newsletter -
Sunny climate, stormy climate | News Digest #51
Sunny climate, stormy climate | News Digest #50
Sunny climate, stormy climate | News Digest #49
If you liked this newsletter, please hit like or leave a comment. If you are a climate champion and want to take this conversation to more people, please share the newsletter with a friend, family member or colleague who may like it too!
Thank you for collecting the information and putting it out for people to read. Great way to spread awareness
very informative and always share with like minded friends who respect nature.