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In 2013, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that the world’s urban areas accounted for about 64 percent of global primary energy use, and produced 70 percent of the planet’s carbon dioxide emissions. Urban hubs are a significant and growing source of energy consumption and as global centres of economic activity and culture, it is essential we address climate action in tandem with economic growth. To decouple GHG emissions from growth, local governments require evidence-based systems for implementing climate action.

On 29 March 2019, World Resources Institute (WRI)...

India is the fastest growing country in terms of demand for energy, as well as the third largest CO2 emitting country in the world. However, India has also placed climate change on high priority, committing to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity by 33-35 percent by 2030 from the 2005 levels as part of its...

Climate change is strongly impacting India. In 2016, southern states faced crippling droughts, which extended to almost half the country in 2017. And last year, Kerala and parts of Karnataka experienced terrible flooding. These trends highlight the need for adaptation to occur more rapidly, and at scale.

One way to achieve this is to integrate adaptation into the everyday functioning of sectors so that their efforts are protected against the negative impacts of climate change. While this concept of ‘mainstreaming’ is not new, it is not taking place at the scale that is required. In...

“Things get done only if the data we gather can inform and inspire those in a position to make [a] difference.” – Mike Schmoker

Data is making it possible to identify solutions, enhancing problem-solving efficiency significantly. Hidden within the data are answers to some of our most pressing challenges, like climate change. The October 2018 IPCC special report stresses the need to considerably lower climate risks by limiting temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degree of warming by 2100. Everyone –...

Government agencies in India are beginning to adopt open innovation as a means to identify innovative technologies and solutions to improve public services. Open innovation refers to partnerships between companies, individuals and public agencies to create innovative products and services and in the process, share its risks and rewards. It is a process borrowed from the private sector and used to accelerate a company or organization’s internal innovation process and yield optimal solutions for a...

This post originally appeared in WRI Insights.

Forest landscape restoration is not just about planting trees. People are at the heart of restoring degraded and deforested land. This episode of the WRI podcast dives into the Global Restoration Initiative's new publication, Mapping Social Landscapes, which places people at the center...

Intersections are locations where roads merge or cross each other, thus putting multiple modes of traffic from different directions into potential conflict. Although they cover only a fraction of the 2000 kilometre long road network in Mumbai, they account for nearly 40 percent of all high risk zones, or blackspots, in the city. They are also where almost a third of all road traffic fatalities occur. What is even more alarming is that more than half of these fatalities are pedestrians.

Earlier this year, the Mumbai Traffic Police and Vital Strategies, under the Bloomberg...

As one of the fastest growing countries, urbanisation has emerged as an opportunity and a challenge for India with huge implications for the rest of the world. Between 2001 and 2015, the number of cities in India with a population of a million or more increased from 35 to 53. In 2015, India’s urban population reached 420 million – 33 per cent of the total population. This number is expected to double to 800 million by 2050 when one in every two Indians will live in its towns and cities.

The social costs of growth

Today India’s cities not only face severe...

One of the key strategies for the success of the Paris Agreement is the idea of nature based solutions to climate change. Protecting ecosystems and the beneficial services they provide is one of the most immediate and effective solutions for both mitigation and adapting to the impacts of climate change. Over the past decade, a range of nature-based approaches to enhancing resilience have emerged from multiple disciplines. These approaches include ecosystem-based adaptation, green and blue infrastructure, and ecological engineering.

India’s Climate Commitments...

India has set a target of achieving 40 gigawatts (GW) of rooftop solar capacity by 2022. The recent improvements in the performance of solar panels, availability of financing options, and favourable policy and regulatory ecosystems have helped to promote the uptake of rooftop solar in India, especially among industrial and commercial consumers. However, rooftop solar uptake by residential consumers, while promising, is yet to gain momentum.

A concentrated national effort is required to accelerate the deployment of rooftop solar to achieve the target by 2022. Unlike traditional grid...