Tesla's potential Indian hub; lithium recycling in Uttarakhand – Issue #94
Exploring the shifting energy landscape in India: The race for Tesla, emergence of lithium ventures, and implications for climate change mitigation
News of the week
For a while now, this newsletter has been harping about decarbonisation and India’s changing economic geography. Another factoid on this shift emerged last week. The race to host Tesla is boiling down to a race between Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra. Interestingly, Karnataka and Andhra have dropped off this list. Just as interesting, Uttarakhand is getting itself a lithium recycling factory.
In other news, one puzzle clarified itself last week.
As we know, India has been auctioning coal blocks in the face of worsening climate change. One reason for this push which, among other things, is driving deforestation manifested itself last week. The coal ministry has ambitious targets to monetise funds through coal block auctions. By March 2024, it had mopped up Rs 55,148 crore through coal block auctions. For 2025, it is eyeing similar numbers.
Even in Gas, the country has ambitious plans. It now wants to create a ‘monster’ gas grid, linking it to Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. This will be interesting to track. CarbonCopy has been talking about the dubious benefits (and equally dubious economics) of gas for a while. India, however, is doubling down on gas infrastructure. Will this gas find takers in South Asia? A colleague was talking some weeks ago about regional electricity grids. It would be interesting to contrast those plans with the one for the regional gas grid. How do these economics compare?
Much of this is business as usual in the face of a worsening climate crisis (see our book pick for more). Last week, too, came reminders that India’s weather patterns are spinning out of gear. The IMD warned that large parts of the country will see hotter than average temperatures between April and June — with heatwaves projected to last as long as 10 to 20 days. The normal has been 4 to 8 days, added Business Standard.
With elections being held during these months, one worries about heatwave deaths. Read this dispatch from Ballia, UP, on life during the heat.
About a month ago, FMCG giant Hindustan Lever sent minor shockwaves through biodiversity and agriculture researchers. It announced plans to grow oil palm in India. Last week, a report in Mint shed additional light on its decision — climate change is roiling global oil palm cultivation, it wrote. Production is expected to fall. Prices will rise. Lever is hedging its bets by turning to domestic cultivation of oil palm — albeit in water-stressed Andhra Pradesh. Here, too, faced with the climate crisis, we are doubling down.
Yet other news. Both Shirdi Sai and Adani have set up their solar module plants. Adani has started, just last week, producing wafers and ingots. Shirdi Sai, too, started production last week. Reliance is expected to go live later this year. IOC is talking to NPCIL to set up small reactors to power its refineries. This is a weird announcement. As CarbonCopy has reported, working prototypes of SMRs are yet to hit the market. Their economics seem unconvincing as well. And, talking of unconvincing economics, Shell has scrapped its plan to move hydrogen on ships.
From energy to adaptation. Did you read this report about a meeting amongst ASEAN countries on how to raise funds for boosting climate resilience? Elsewhere in the world, the Saudis have scaled back their NEOM project. “By 2030, the government at one point hoped to have 1.5 million residents living in The Line, a sprawling, futuristic city it plans to contain within a pair of mirror-clad skyscrapers,” reported Bloomberg. “Now, officials expect the development will house fewer than 300,000 residents by that time.”
Continuing with the good news, read this report about the US that replaced its gas plant with batteries.
Finally, as elections near, political parties are coming out with their manifestos. The Congress manifesto is surprisingly strong on environment and climate change. It promises the country a new independent environment regulator, a green new deal, increased afforestation, and more.
Climate change news of the week
“The polar vortex circling the Arctic is swirling in the wrong direction after surprise warming in the upper atmosphere triggered a major reversal event earlier this month. It is one of the most extreme atmospheric U-turns seen in recent memory.” From LiveScience.
EMBED: Sidharth Agarwal walked the length of the Ganga. Here, a film based on his epic journey. (FOLKS. SHALL WE EMBED THIS LINK? WE CAN DROP THE TEXT AND JUST EMBED HIS VIDEO)
CarbonCopy story of the week
“The final methodology for green credits for tree plantation activities seems to legitimise greenwashing, raising questions about the programme’s tangible environmental benefits.” Read the whole report here.
Climate video of the week
Three weeks ago, Himal South Asian published a report about Reliance’s Vantara project. One of the themes of that article? A poorly scrutinised turn towards privatisation of India’s biodiversity. Last week, the magazine hosted a discussion about this trend. Watch here:
Climate Long-reads
How three high-tech countries became laggards in electric vehicles (ET)
Why India’s south rejects Modi — and why it matters (Bloomberg)
Threat of (critical mineral) mining to African great apes (Science)
‘Simply mind-boggling’: world record temperature jump in Antarctic raises fears of catastrophe (Guardian). Also read this:
Global concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide climbed to unseen levels in 2023.
Bill McKibben worries that the fight against climate change is losing momentum. Here is why. (New Yorker)
Forgotten Chipko movement villagers expose cracks in BJP’s “development” narrative (Frontline)
How an ethanol factory has turned this Vijayawada village from idyllic charm to industrial nightmare (The Hindu)
Boston’s defenses against rising seas lean on private development. What happens when the money dries up? (Boston Globe)
The hard lessons of Harvard’s failed geoengineering experiment (Technology Review)
Is synthetic natural gas any better than the real thing? (FT)
Book of the week
We will do something different this week. The previous instalment of this newsletter had praised Adam Welz’s The End of Eden: Wild Nature in the Age of Climate Breakdown. Well, we finished reading it yesterday — and are now hardpressed to think of another book that explains the climate change-led mechanics of the mass extinction as well. Or brings its costs alive as effectively. And so, we will repeat our book recco last week.
Add The End of Eden to your to-read list!
Hey Raj
Gas is a last-century tech and system. The Netherlands, for example, had extensive house-to-house gas delivery. That country has phased that out for electricity connection, so new houses/apartments do not have gas pipelines at all.
It would be interesting to see Electoral bonds from these "Green Companies" from this pov, has the govt. bought an older tech for some benefits to the BJ Party?