Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The Indian government has proposed quadrupling power generation from renewable sources by the year 2022. The plan stems, in part, from coal supply concerns and international climate change commitments. It would increase renewables-based capacity from 11 per cent of total capacity at present (18,321 MW) to 15.9 per cent (72,400 MW) by 2022.

At present, 65 per cent of India's generation capacity is based on fossil fuels, largely coal, and energy consumption could double by 2035, according to estimates from the International Energy Agency. According to the National Action Plan on Climate Change, emissions intensity will be reduced by 20-25 per cent of 2005 levels by 2020. Around 60 per cent of India's carbon emissions are from the power sector.

The government of the Maldives has opened discussions with Bangladesh regarding a means of reducing its vulnerability to climate change. "They want to import soil from our country in defense against rising sea levels," said Muhammad Faruk Khan, Bangladesh commerce minister.

The rivers of Bangladesh have to be dredged because the large volume of sediment brought down from the Himalayas is making navigation difficult. The Maldives needs sand for its coastal protection measures. "We are more than happy if the deal works out because it will be beneficial for a brotherly nation," Khan said.

A British glaciologist has warned that record-breaking Arctic temperatures over the past year have resulted in the Greenland ice sheet retreating and thinning extensively. Very warm temperatures across Greenland "enhanced and extended melting into new northern and upper parts of the ice sheet generating huge quantities - at least double that compared with the previous year - of melt water which runs off the ice sheet into the ocean," Alun Hubbard of Aberystwyth University reported.

The rapid drainage lubricates the base of the ice sheet and hydraulically lifts it, overcoming friction with the underlying rock. It's much like the ice is suddenly aquaplaning or slipping on a banana skin," Hubbard explained. "What we observed using methods borrowed from earthquake monitoring, is that the ice sheet slides and accelerates massively when these lakes drain, but the effect is relatively short lived and that the flow does regulate as further melt water drains to the bed."