Blogs

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...

Every year, ministers and officials from almost all countries in the world meet to discuss how to tackle the problem of climate change. This annual gathering is known as the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). At the 2015 COP in Paris, countries agreed to limit global warming to well below 2°C compared with the average temperature that prevailed before the Industrial Revolution started escalating the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas have become the backbone of the industrial economy, which is why...

Under the Paris Agreement, by 2030, India has committed to reducing the emissions intensity of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 33-35 percent as compared to 2005 levels. Since economic activity is concentrated in urban areas, cities need to take the lead in achieving this target. Therefore, cities need to pursue development in a clean, green, inclusive, equitable and...

This blog post originally appeared in TheCityFix.

In too many cities today we see a stark dichotomy. On one side we have enclaves for the rich and powerful, full of luxuries and amenities, and access to the bounties of a globalized world. On the other, there are the disempowered and poor, slumdwellers, and recent migrants, who lack even the most basic services.

But we are also seeing new social and political movements to press back against these trends...

India is urbanising at a rapid pace and there is extensive and increasing demand for services like housing, water, sanitation, energy, and mobility. Recent reports on the state of water and energy...

India’s buildings are silent power guzzlers. According to a 2017 survey conducted by the Ministry of Statistics, Planning and Implementation (MOSPI), residential and commercial buildings consume 32 percent of the country’s total electricity. As our cities grow, building energy demand is poised to balloon. According to the Global Buildings Performance Network (2013), by 2030, India would have an...

The mobility sector in India is undergoing a digital transformation. Public bus agencies, usually referred to as State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs), are investing millions in setting up Intelligent Transport Systems to improve the efficiency of bus systems. At the same time, mobility entrepreneurs backed by heavy investments, are developing innovative...

In August, 16 people died as a result of landslides in the Kodagu district of Karnataka, India. In addition, the region saw significant destruction of property, including homes, infrastructure, coffee plantations, and other farms.

In the aftermath of such significant direct and indirect losses, a critical introspection of the cause of such massive disaster is important. It is more prudent to manage the disaster risks and vulnerabilities than to manage disasters. It is also important to examine the relationship between disasters, natural resources, and development. Are we taking for...