Blog Posts: climate science

India has been under a complete lockdown since March 24 to arrest the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Six weeks into this unprecedented lockdown, there have been 49,501 recorded cases of COVID-19 and 1,697 deaths (as of May 6). This crisis, apart from being a human tragedy, is also expected to hit the economy hard.

A closer look into the current scenario, however, reveals that we are facing three converging crises: the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, its immediate impact on the economy and the ever-present threat from climate change. What remains to be seen is how the pandemic and its...

The Asia Pacific region, which includes India and China, constitutes 60% of the global population and has contributed to nearly half of the global annual CO2 emissions in 2017. It is also the fastest growing region in the world economy, expected to account for 60% of the world’s growth in energy...

This blog post originally appeared in WRI Insights.

After the largest election in history, India's government faces important decisions on how to respond to climate change, including preparing for its increasing impacts on the lives and livelihoods of millions of Indians. While climate and environmental issues such as deforestation, water stress and floods were largely absent in the election campaign, several...

Air pollution has become a critical issue in many developing countries lately. The issue has received a lot of media attention, especially since it is responsible for premature deaths and other health issues. However, what hasn’t been highlighted much is that air pollution has economic consequences too. The delay of goods and passenger trains, flights and freight during winter in Delhi due to haze is a straightforward example of how air pollution is affecting our economy. In India, air pollution was responsible for the...

This blog post originally appeared in TheCityFix.

Photo Credit: Lubaina Rangwala/WRI India

One of the biggest challenges to climate action is not only understanding the risks of flooding, extreme heat and other challenges, but how your community might respond to these risks. What are its strengths? How might policymakers augment...

The urgency and complexity of the climate change challenge has been globally recognised. As developing countries grapple with the adverse effects of unfavorable climatic stressors, the global community is negotiating to meet the increasing demand for climate finance. This shift in the global conscience has facilitated a conducive environment for mainstreaming climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts, and integrating them firmly into countries’ overall developmental and growth agendas. There is far greater emphasis now on ensuring the climate proofing of development.

To that...

In recent times, discussions around internal carbon pricing have been intensifying. Carbon pricing shifts costs away from society to the polluter, and provides incentives to reduce emissions. More than 430 companies globally have implemented internal carbon pricing – evidence that corporates are recognising that this benefits more than just climate.

While most policies follow the ‘polluters pay’ principle,...