• The Indian PM together with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of UAE, co-hosted the High-level event on ‘Green Credits Programme’ at COP-28, in Dubai.
• The Global Green Credit Initiative aims to facilitate global collaboration, cooperation and partnership through exchange of knowledge, experiences and best practices in planning, implementation and monitoring of environment positive actions through programs/mechanisms like Green Credits.
• It is also referred as Global Platform for Nature’s Ecological Transformation.
• The Green Credits initiative envisions a market-based approach to rewarding individuals, communities, and organisations for undertaking environmentally positive actions.
  • These actions could include afforestation, water conservation, and sustainable waste management practices, among others.
• Participants in the program will earn tradeable Green Credits, which can be used to offset carbon emissions or sold to entities seeking to reduce their environmental footprint.
• This mechanism aims to create a financial incentive for individuals and organisations to adopt sustainable practices and contribute to environmental conservation.
• The Green Credits system will be a fully digital and tradeable instrument for environmental sustainability.
  • The entire process, from registration to verification and issuance of green credits, will be done online.
• The Green Credits initiative has already been launched in India, and the PM has invited countries around the world to join it.
  • It has been notified through Green Credit Rules, 2023 by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change under the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
• In the first phase, it envisions the issuance of Green Credits for plantation on waste/degraded lands and river catchment areas, to rejuvenate and revive natural ecosystems and create voluntary carbon sinks.
  • The end goal is to contribute to a healthier planet and a more sustainable future for all.
• Difference between Crbon Credits and green credits
  • Carbon credits, with their established international and national trading systems, focus on reducing or offsetting carbon dioxide emissions.
  • Green credits, on the other hand, have a broader scope, encompassing a wider range of environmental actions and extending beyond direct carbon emission reduction. They reward activities such as afforestation, water conservation, waste reduction, and biodiversity conservation.

• PM Modi, in collaboration with his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson, launched the India-Sweden Industry Transition Partnership during the COP28 World Climate Action Summit, hosted in Dubai.
• The initiative has been introduced under the broader framework of the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) 2.0, and marks a significant stride toward a sustainable and green industrial revolution.
• The unveiling of LeadIT 2.0 at COP28 in Dubai has an intensified commitment to three core areas–
  • Inclusive and Just Industry Transition
  • Low Carbon Technology Development and Transfer
  • Emerging Economy Technology Transfer

ABOUT LEADIT INITIATIVE

• LeadIT was launched by India and Sweden at the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019.
• LeadIT has grown into a collaborative effort involving 18 countries and 20 industry-leading companies.
• It brings together countries, companies and industry experts to achieve net-zero emissions from heavy industries by 2050.
• The LeadIT initiative, initially centered around pivotal sectors such as iron, steel, cement, and aluminum, focused on industry transition and knowledge sharing.

• India proposes to invite expression of interest from global players to manufacture hydrogen-powered trains in the country based on technology being developed indigenously.
• This is being done to implement Hydrogen for heritage scheme.

ABOUT THE SCHEME

• ‘Hydrogen for Heritage’ scheme, is a plan to operate hydrogen-powered trains on select heritage and hilly routes that are environmentally sensitive.
• It was announced in the Union Budget 2023-24.
• Indian Railways is developing a prototype of a train that will be powered by hydrogen fuel cells–making for a more environment-friendly locomotive than traditional diesel-powered ones.
  • Currently, only Germany commercially operates hydrogen-powered trains, while the US, the UK, France, and Japan are in the testing phase.
• India’s plan to develop the technology involves retrofitment of hydrogen fuel cells on diesel electric multiple unit (DEMU) rakes. This prototype is expected to run on the Jind-Sonipat section in Haryana initially.
  • Hydrogen fuel cells use the chemical energy of hydrogen to produce electricity.
• Indian Railways has proposed to run 35 hydrogen trains at an estimated cost of Rs80 crore per train, with ground infrastructure costing Rs70 crore per route.
• Thirty-five train-set rakes (with six coaches each) have been sanctioned for the ongoing financial year for eight sections–Matheran Hill Railway, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Kalka-Shimla Railway, Kangra Valley, Bilmora Waghai, Patalpani Kalakund, Nilgiri Mountain Railways, and Marwar-Goram Ghat.

• PM on December 4, Navy Day, unveiled the 43-foot statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Sindhudurg Fort in Maharashtra.

 ABOUT NAVY DAY

• Navy Day is marked to commemorate the success of Operation Trident which took place during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
• Operation Trident was a successful offensive operation launched by the Indian Navy during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, between December 4 and December 5.
• The Indian Navy sharply attacked the Pakistan port city of Karachi and caused much damage to their naval infrastructure.
• It was the first time that anti-ship missiles were used in combat between India and Pakistan.
• There were no casualties on the Indian side.

ABOUT SINDHUDURG FORT

• The Sindhudurg Fort is located on a small island in the Arabian Sea, near the shore of Malvan in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra.
• It was commissioned by Chhatrapati Shivaji I between 1664 and 1667.
• It was designed by the chief architect of the Maratha kingdom Hiroji Indulkar.
• The Sindhudurg Fort is a protected monument.
  • The Fort houses a handprint and a footprint of Shivaji Maharaj.
• It is spread over 48 acres, with 30 feet high and 12 feet thick walls that were made to sustain high tide.
• The fort’s foundation stones were laid in molten lead.
• Its main entrance is concealed in such a way that no one can locate it from outside.
• The fort is closed during the rainy season because of high tide.

• UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has released The Global Drought Snapshot at the beginning of the 28^th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in
• It exposes the devastating consequences of droughts on lives, economies, and various sectors based on reporting by 101 Parties to the UNCCD.

 MAJOR FINDINGS

• It shows that only a few hazards claim more lives, cause more economic loss, and affect more sectors of society than drought.
• 84 billion people are drought stricken and according to the World Bank, 85% of them live in low or middle-income countries.
  • 7 percent of this population was exposed to severe or extreme drought.
• As compared to men, women and children are over 14 times more likely to be killed by climate fuelled disasters.
• Drought’s severity prompted emergency declarations at a national or sub-national level in 23 countries (including India).
  • Europe faced the highest number of declarations, with Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom declaring emergencies in 2023.
• Anthropogenic drivers are causing more frequent and extreme droughts.
• 2023 has broken records when the world breached 2 degrees Celsius of warming on November 17, 2023.

About UNCCD

• UNCCD is one of three Conventions originated at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

• The UNCCD works with the other two Rio Conventions to address the interlinked challenges of land, climate and biodiversity. These are-
  • The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
  • The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• It was established in 1994.
• It is the only legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.
• It obliges national governments to take measures to tackle the issue of desertification.
• It addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, harboring some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and population.
• It focuses on having a bottom-up approach to achieve its goals, by involving the local communities.

• Bihar government launched its ambitious scheme to minimise school dropout.
• The scheme, called Mission Daksh (Dynamic Approach for Knowledge and Skill) aims at offering special Hindi, Mathematics and English classes to weak students of classes 3-8 across the state.
• A teacher will teach only five students, who cannot read and write Hindi and English fluently and are not good at basic Mathematics.
• Daksh classes were run successfully between 3.30 pm and 4.15 pm in over 60,000-plus schools across the state.

• International Day of Persons With Disabilities is annually observed on December 3^rd.
• In 1992, the annual observance of the International Day of Disabled Persons was announced by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 47/3.
• The day was celebrated with the aim of understanding disability issues and gaining support to ensure that their rights to well-being, dignity and equal opportunities are practiced.
• The theme for International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2023 is – United in action to rescue and achieve the SDGs for, with and by persons with disabilities.

• The National Pollution Control Day or National Pollution Prevention Day is observed on December 2 every year in India.
• The objective of the day is to raise awareness about the different measures to control pollution and the prevention of industrial disasters.
• National Pollution Control Day is especially observed in the memory of people who died in the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984.
  • Regarded as one of the worst industrial environmental catastrophes in the history of India, the Bhopal Gas Tragedy took place on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984, when a deadly gas, methyl isocyanate, leaked from Union Carbide India Limited’s pesticide facility in Madhya Pradesh.
• The theme for National Pollution Control Day 2023 is “Sustainable Development for a Clean and Healthy Planet”.

• Pressmud, a residual byproduct in the sugar industry often known as filter cake or press cake, has been acknowledged as a valuable resource for green energy production.
  • It is the agricultural waste obtained when cane juice is repeatedly filtered before being sent for extraction of sugar.
• It can help Indian sugar mills generate extra revenue by utilising it as a feedstock for biogas production through anaerobic digestion and subsequent purification to create compressed biogas (CBG).
• Usually, the yield of pressmud falls within the range of 3-4 per cent weight by weight with the input sugarcane processed in a unit.
• Advantages
  • eliminates the complexities associated with the feedstock supply chain
  • the feedstock is sourced from one or two producers or sugar mills, as opposed to agricultural residue, which involves multiple producers / farmers within a narrow window of 45 days per year.
  • pressmud’s quality is not a concern, unlike municipal solid waste, where the presence of inorganic material can damage anaerobic digesters, leading to lower gas output.
  • it eliminates pretreatment costs as it lacks the organic polymer lignin, unlike agriresidue.
  • in terms of conversion efficiency, approximately 25 tonnes of pressmud are needed to produce a tonne of CBG.
    • In comparison, cattle dung requires 50 tonnes for the same gas output.
  • Challenges
    • Pressmud faces competition for use as fertiliser and in bio-composting.
    • The need for CBG plants to store feedstock for the entire year, given that sugar mills operate for a specific period.
    • Storing pressmud proves challenging as it undergoes gradual decomposition, resulting in the breakdown of organic compounds.
      • This increases long-term storage cost and production costs.

• On the opening day of the COP28 summit of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Dubai, a loss and damage fund to help vulnerable countries cope with the impact of climate change has been officially launched.

ABOUT LOSS AND DAMAGE FUND

• The loss and damage fund is a global financial package to ensure the rescue and rehabilitation of countries facing the cascading effects of climate change.
• The term refers to the compensation that rich nations, whose industrial growth has resulted in global warming and driven the planet into a climate crisis, must pay to poor nations, whose carbon footprint is low but are facing the brunt of rising sea levels, floods, crippling droughts, and intense cyclones, among others.
  • The changing climate has impacted lives, livelihoods, biodiversity, cultural traditions, and identities.
• It was first announced during COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2022.
• The World Bank will oversee the loss and damage fund in the beginning, with the source of funds being rich nations, such as the US, the UK and the EU, as well as some developing countries.
• The initial funding is estimated to be $475 million — host UAE pledged $100 million, the European Union promised $275 million, $17.5 million from the US, and $10 million from Japan.