India-US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership
- Climate Action and Finance Mobilisation Dialogue (CAFMD), one of the two main tracks of the U.S.-India Agenda 2030 Partnership that announced at the Leaders’ Summit on Climate in April 2021
- “India-US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership.”
- The Partnership will represent one of the core venues for India-US collaboration and focus on driving urgent progress in this critical decade for climate action.
- Both India and the United States have set ambitious 2030 targets for climate action and clean energy. In its new nationally determined contribution, the United States has set an economy-wide target of reducing its net greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent below 2005 levels in 2030.
- As part of its climate mitigation efforts, India has set a target of installing 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030.
- Through the Partnership, India and the United States are firmly committed to working together in achieving their ambitious climate and clean energy targets and to strengthening bilateral collaboration across climate and clean energy.
- The Partnership will aim to mobilize finance and speed clean energy deployment; demonstrate and scale innovative clean technologies needed to decarbonize sectors including industry, transportation, power, and buildings; and build capacity to measure, manage, and adapt to the risks of climate-related impacts.
- The Partnership will proceed along two main tracks: the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership and the Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue, which will build on and subsume a range of existing processes
THE HINDU
Epic games vs APPLE
- Epic Games launched the case aiming to break Apple’s grip on the App Store, accusing the iPhone maker of acting like a monopoly in its shop for digital goods or services.
- The US judge ordered Apple to loosen control of its App Store, but said Epic failed to prove any antitrust violations.
- Antitrust laws include prohibiting price fixing and restriction of trade by special interest groups.
- Antitrust laws also ban mergers that would reduce a market’s competition, the creation of Monopolies to obtain control of market share and efforts to maintain a monopoly by dishonest practices.
THE HINDU
Low rainfall in August
- “During August 2021, rainfall over the country as a whole was below Long Period Average (LPA) by minus 24 per cent. It is also the lowest August rainfall in last 12 years after 2009,”
- The formation of less number of low pressure systems (LPS) and their lesser number of days compared to the climatology and absence of their longer westward movements during the month of August 2021 contributed to the large deficient rainfall in central India as well as all India, the IMD said.
- It said negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) over tropical Indian Ocean, unfavourable for Indian monsoon prevailed throughout the month of the August, which also contributed to deficient rainfall over India in the month.
- A negative IOD is associated with the heating of waters of the Indian Ocean
- Sustained changes in the difference between sea surface temperatures of the tropical western and eastern Indian Ocean are known as the Indian Ocean Dipole or IOD.
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India and Australia 2+2 dialogue
- India’s strategic partnership with Australia is based on “free” and “open” Indo-Pacific region, said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh
- Welcoming his Australian counterpart Peter Dutton who is here for the inaugural ministerial “2+2” dialogue,
- Both sides will expand military engagements. The Australian Minister referred to India’s role in the region as “essential
About 2+2 dialogue
- India and Australia decided in 20201 to upgrade their `2+2′ dialogue from level of secretaries to that of ministers.
- Foreign and defence ministers of the two countries will meet in the format at least every two years to pursue the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
- Foreign and Defence Ministers will meet in a ‘2+2’ format to discuss strategic issues at least every two years,
THE HINDU