Today, with the world already reeling from the initial ravages of climate change, the big question before us is whether we can trust the developed countries that are responsible, in the first instance

http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/home.html THE MIDDLE PATH There are many countries with malnourished and starving people; there are also some with overweight and obese people. This

Tata Chemicals, India's leading manufacturer of inorganic chemicals, has firmed up an investment of Rs 750 crore in next three to four years to pursue its foray into ethanol.

GUWAHATI, Feb 17

A Swiss company's $100 million plan for setting up maize-based ethanol generation plant near Port Qasim has been jeopardised due to poor law and order situation in the country. Sources in Sindh Environment and Alternative Energy Department told Business Recorder on Friday that the poor law and order and political instability have put the project in doldrums as the company is reluctant to invest in the country in present scenario. Without naming the Swiss firm, sources said that a high-level delegation of the firm has called on Mohammadmian Soomro some six months back in Islamabad, when he was Senate Chairman to brief him about the project. Soomro had asked the delegation to work jointly with Board of Investment and Planning Commission to remove the financial and legal hitches in the plan. Later, the Alternative Energy Development Board was asked to see the possibility of setting up the plant near Port Qasim, the sources said, adding that the AEDB had also started feasibility study of the project in collaboration with Swiss firm. Sources said the firm was also intending to invest in large-scale projects in oil and gas sector. Sindh Alternative Energy department had also announced setting up of a $110 million ethanol plant on which AEDB was working but this project was also in doldrums owing to indifference of the officials concerned. Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

A Swiss company's $100 million plan for setting up maize-based ethanol generation plant near Port Qasim has been jeopardised due to poor law and order situation in the country. Sources in Sindh Environment and Alternative Energy Department told Business Recorder on Friday that the poor law and order and political instability have put the project in doldrums as the company is reluctant to invest in the country in present scenario. Without naming the Swiss firm, sources said that a high-level delegation of the firm has called on Mohammadmian Soomro some six months back in Islamabad, when he was Senate Chairman to brief him about the project. Soomro had asked the delegation to work jointly with Board of Investment and Planning Commission to remove the financial and legal hitches in the plan. Later, the Alternative Energy Development Board was asked to see the possibility of setting up the plant near Port Qasim, the sources said, adding that the AEDB had also started feasibility study of the project in collaboration with Swiss firm. Sources said the firm was also intending to invest in large-scale projects in oil and gas sector. Sindh Alternative Energy department had also announced setting up of a $110 million ethanol plant on which AEDB was working but this project was also in doldrums owing to indifference of the officials concerned. Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

the European Union is planning to ban certain biofuels, saying their social and environmental impacts are dangerous. eu is likely to review its draft policy on biofuels to effect the ban. The

The worst fears about the impact of the rush for bio-fuels are coming true. Evidence that has now surfaced suggests that bio-fuels based on plant sources may actually aggravate, rather than alleviate, the environmental damage being caused by global warming. At least two recent studies done in the United States, and published in the latest issue of Science, bear this out.

Ironically, converting new land to produce alternative fuels from crops and grasses can cause emissions of carbon dioxide 420 times more than the annual savings from replacing fossil fuels, according to Minnesota-based scientists. Policymakers in the European Union and the US have identified biofuels as a tool to fight global warming, as they emit less greenhouse gases than burning fossil fuels.