Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction 2024-2025

In 2024, the building and construction sector’s emissions did not increase for the first time since 2020. This milestone was reported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction. Despite this progress, the sector still accounts for over a third of global emissions. The Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction 2024-2025, released on March 17, 2025, indicates that decarbonisation efforts are beginning to yield results.

Current Emission Trends

The building sector’s emissions stabilised in 2024. This marks a very important shift in a sector that has long been a substantial contributor to climate change. The energy intensity of buildings decreased by nearly 10 per cent. Additionally, the proportion of renewable energy in final energy demand rose by about 5 per cent.

Importance of Policy Implementation

The report emphasises the urgent need for ambitious energy codes. Almost half of the world’s future buildings are yet to be constructed. Therefore, implementing strong energy policies is crucial. Currently, over 50 per cent of new buildings in emerging and developing economies lack such regulations.

Key Measures for Decarbonisation

The adoption of zero-carbon building energy codes is essential. Major carbon-emitting countries should implement these codes by 2028. All other nations are encouraged to follow suit by 2035. This measure is critical for achieving global climate objectives.

Financial Investments Required

Investment in building energy efficiency must increase . The sector needs to double its investments from $270 billion to $522 billion by 2030. This funding is vital for implementing measures such as circular construction practices, green leases, and energy-efficient retrofitting.

Challenges in Material Use

Construction materials like cement and steel contribute to emissions. They account for 18 per cent of global emissions and generate substantial waste. Addressing these challenges is necessary for reducing the sector’s environmental impact.

Workforce Development Needs

The building sector faces skill shortages. Workforce development programmes are essential to equip workers with the necessary skills for a sustainable future.

Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents

Vol. 60, Issue No. 11, 15 Mar, 2025

Editorials

Dignity, Not Doles, for Front-line Workers

Comment

For a Just Peace in Manipur

From 25 Years Ago

From 50 Years Ago

Commentary

Book Reviews

Rethinking Humanities as Pluralist Pedagogy

Ananya Pathak

Accessible Insights on the Indian Macroeconomy

Rahul De

Perspectives

Relationship between Growth and Inequality in India and Tax Policy Implications

Ravindra H Dholakia, Sitikantha Pattanaik, Shrujan Rajendra Rajdeep

Special Articles

Measuring Inﬂation Inequality in India

Rohan Bansal, Prachi Bansal

Fintech Solutions for Supply Chain Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises in India

Naveen Kumar K

The Case for Grid-connected Solar Irrigation Pumps - Evidence from Gujarat’s Suryashakti Kisan Yojana

Tushaar Shah, Rahul Rathod, Shilp Verma, Arnab Paul Chawdhry, Gyan P Rai

Reversing India’s Industrial Decline - Need for Redesigning Policies

R Nagaraj

Notes

How Inclusive Is the Present Public Distribution System? - Evidence from Rural Uttar Pradesh

Roli Misra, Ankit Upadhyay

Current Statistics

Letters

Empowering Women in the Judiciary

Shalinee Vishwakarma, Karan Goyal

Is the APAAR ID a Premature Action?

Rajeesh C S

Still hungry: Editorial on the slow improvement in malnutrition indicators in India's children

Welfare schemes need to be bolstered by addressing overlapping issues such as funding and corruption before India can fulfil its pledge of providing proper nutrition to its children

A noticeable gap exists between India’s national aspirations and its ground realities. Just two weeks ago, the prime minister assured the nation, once again, that India would soon become a five-trillion-dollar economy. Yet, last week, the minister for women and child development informed Parliament that 37.7% of children enrolled in anganwadis are stunted, while 17.1% are underweight according to the government’s Poshan Tracker. Malnutrition indicators, it was said, have shown signs of improvement. What was left unsaid though is that this improvement is taking place at the rate of about one percentage point annually. This means that India is likely to miss the 2030 deadline to meet the sustainable development goals on child health. While this may seem surprising given that the number of schemes that target child mortality and health have multiplied — going up from 49 in 2008-09 to 93 in 2024-25 — a look at the budgetary expenditure on children may reveal the causes for the persistence of child malnutrition. Despite overall allocations to children increasing from Rs 69,242 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 1,09,921 crore in 2024-25, the share of child-focused expenditure in the total Union budget has been declining. This share dropped from 3.2% of the total Union expenditure in 2017-18 to 3% in 2019-20, and further to 2.3% in 2024-25. The largest share of this measly pie goes towards children’s education. Nutrition comes second.

State apathy is not the only burden that India’s children have to bear. The spectre of caste looms large here too. Last year, a study had found that Indian children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds — Dalits and Adivasis, for instance — were more stunted than their counterparts in Sub-Saharan Africa. Those from non-stigmatised caste groups, though, fared better than even India’s national average by over 15 percentage points. Some interventions hold promise. The mid-day meal scheme, for example, has fought malnutrition as well as caste-based food biases, but underfunding, corruption and institutional intimidation — criminal charges were filed against a journalist for exposing poor meals in Uttar Pradesh — undermine its effectiveness. Welfare schemes need to be bolstered by addressing overlapping issues such as funding, corruption and caste before India can fulfil its pledge of providing proper nutrition to its children.

Source: Telegraph India, 19/03/25

How ‘microlightning’ in water droplets may have sparked life on Earth

A new study adds another angle to the much-disputed Miller-Urey hypothesis, which argues that life on the planet emerged from a lightning strike. The analysis says that water sprays are sufficient for generating organic compounds, without requiring electricity from external sources

How life began on Earth has been a long-standing mystery, but according to a study the process could have been kicked off simply with crashing waterfalls and breaking waves that would have thrown up mists of water.

The findings add another angle to the much-disputed Miller-Urey hypothesis, which argues that life on the planet emerged from a lightning strike. They were described in the study, ‘Spraying of water microdroplets forms luminescence and causes chemical reactions in surrounding gas’, which was published in the journal Science Advances last week.

What is the Miller-Urey hypothesis?

The Earth formed around 4.6 billion years ago. For a few billion years afterwards, it had a rich mixture of chemicals but almost no organic molecules with carbon-nitrogen bonds. These bonds are crucial for proteins, enzymes, nucleic acids, chlorophyll, and other compounds that makeup living beings today.

In 1952, American chemist Stanley Miller and physicist Harold Urey performed an experiment in which they successfully demonstrated that the organic compounds (such as amino acids) needed for life could form with the application of electricity to a mixture of water and inorganic gases. Put simply, the two scientists showed that a lightning bolt struck the ocean, triggering chemical interaction with gases such as methane, ammonia, and hydrogen that created organic molecules.

The experiment was considered a landmark at the time as it gave one of the possible explanations for how life could have found its first foothold on Earth. However, in the following years, many scientists raised doubts about the experiment, saying “real lightning would have struck infrequently — and mostly in open ocean, where organic compounds would have quickly dispersed,” according to a report by Scientific American.

And what did the new study find?

According to the new study, water spray is sufficient to generate organic compounds without the requirement of external electricity. Stanford University chemist Richard Zare, who led the analysis, told Scientific American, “Unlike lightning… water sprays are everywhere”. Zare and his team showed that when water droplets divide, they develop opposing charges. While larger droplets have positive charges, smaller ones carry negative ones. When these oppositely charged droplets move close together, tiny sparks leap between them. This process, called “microlightning” by the researchers, imitates how lightning forms in clouds. As a result, when Zare and his team sprayed water into a mixture of nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide and ammonia, it led to the formation of organic compounds, including hydrogen cyanide, glycine, and uracil. According to the researchers, the findings showed that it was not necessarily that lightning strikes may have kick-started life on Earth. Tiny sparks due to crashing waves or waterfalls may have done the job. “On early Earth, there were water sprays all over the place – into crevices or against rocks, and they can accumulate and create this chemical reaction… I think this overcomes many of the problems people have with the Miller-Urey hypothesis,” said Zare in a statement.

Written by Alind Chauhan

Source: Indian Express, 18/03/25

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Quote of the Day March 12, 2025

“To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.”
Eva Young

“किसी काम को करने के बारे में बहुत देर तक सोचते रहना अक़सर उसके बिगड़ जाने का कारण बनता है।”
ईवा यंग

Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents

Vol. 60, Issue No. 10, 08 Mar, 2025

Editorials

Reciprocal Tariffs Will Destabilise International Trade

Comment

Changing Course in Ukraine and US–Russia Diplomacy

From 25 Years Ago

From 25 Years Ago: Poverty and Primary Schooling: Field Studies from Mumbai and Delhi

From 50 Years Ago

From 50 Years Ago-India’s Nuclear Age: Dubious Cost-Benefit

Alternative Standpoint

The Tribal Development Paradox - Infrastructure Challenges and Social Justice for the Madia Tribe in Gadchiroli

Bodhi Ramteke

Commentary

Pink Tax in India - How Compelling Is the Evidence?

Saibal Ghosh

Trump’s ‘America First’ Trade Policy

Biswajit Dhar

Book Reviews

The Changing Landscape of Labour Regulations in India

Angarika Rakshit

Looking to the ‘East’

Somak Biswas

Early Modern State-making - Mughal Law and the Company State

Ayan Sharma

Perspectives

Towards a Gendered Framing of Animal Sexual Abuse in India

Nivedita Ghosh

Special Articles

Prices, Poverty Lines, and Poverty in 2022–23

Himanshu, Peter Lanjouw, Philipp Schirmer

Elevating Non-academic Roles - Professionalising Key Functions in Indian Higher Education

Jai Mohan Pandit

Emergent Plutonomy in India - Limits of Transformative Constitutionalism

Rouf Ahmad Dar, Aejaz Ahmad Wani, Javid Ahmad Dar

Examining Women’s Participation in Van Panchayats of Uttarakhand, India - A Gender as Seriality Analysis

Gautam Prateek

Current Statistics

Postscript

British Rule and Environmentalism in Wayanad - The Curious Case of Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja

Amiliya Theres Chacko, Sreemoyee Sarkar

Laughing with the Sarabhais, the Parekhs, the Mehtas - An Invitation to Rethink Admiration for Indian Family Sitcoms

Prerna Subramanian

’Begampura‘ in the Ballads of Ambedkar Summer School

Ganesh Gaigouria

Last Lines

Letters

Missing National Outrage against Manual Scavenging

Aishwarya Karan, Bhoopendra Kumar Ahirwar

Microeconomic Lens on Educational Inequality

Siva Gurunathan S, Muzammil A

World Air Quality Report 2024

A recent report by IQAir revealed that India is among the world’s most polluted nations. Thirteen of the top twenty polluted cities globally are located in India. Byrnihat, Assam, is identified as the most polluted city. Despite a slight improvement in air quality, the overall situation remains dire.

Current Air Quality Statistics

According to the World Air Quality Report 2024, India ranks as the fifth most polluted country, a slight improvement from third place in 2023.
The average PM2.5 concentration in India decreased by 7% to 50.6 micrograms per cubic metre.
However, cities like Delhi continue to struggle, with a PM2.5 level of 91.6 micrograms per cubic metre. This figure is nearly unchanged from the previous year.

Major Polluted Cities in India

The report lists Byrnihat, Delhi, Mullanpur, Faridabad, Loni, New Delhi, Gurugram, Ganganagar, Greater Noida, Bhiwadi, Muzaffarnagar, Hanumangarh, and Noida among the world’s top polluted cities. These cities report PM2.5 levels exceeding WHO limits by over ten times.

Health Impacts of Air Pollution

Air pollution affects public health. Life expectancy is reduced by an estimated 5.2 years due to poor air quality. A study published in Lancet Planetary Health indicates that approximately 1.5 million deaths annually from 2009 to 2019 were linked to long-term exposure to PM2.5 pollution. PM2.5 particles, smaller than 2.5 microns, can infiltrate the lungs and bloodstream, causing severe health issues such as respiratory diseases, heart conditions, and cancer.

Sources of Air Pollution

Key sources of air pollution in India include vehicle emissions, industrial discharges, and the burning of biomass and crop waste. These pollutants contribute to the high PM2.5 levels observed in urban areas.

Proposed Solutions and Actions

Experts advocate for immediate action to address air quality issues. Recommendations include replacing biomass with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and providing higher subsidies for the poorest families. Expanding public transport and enforcing stricter emission laws are also vital. A combination of incentives and penalties for industries and vehicles is essential for effective pollution control.

Government and Community Role

The government must enhance data collection and take decisive action. Community involvement is crucial in promoting awareness and advocating for cleaner practices. Collaboration between the government, industries, and citizens can lead to improvements in air quality.

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