Blogs
The blogs are part of WRI India’s mission to provide unbiased, expert analysis on the most important environmental issues facing the world today.
In today’s rapid-fire, fragmented information culture, we hope these insights will provide a measure of clarity to decision-makers worldwide.
Commentaries
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Covid-19 Policy Note Series: Energy and Power
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Covid-19 Policy Note Series: Cities and Urban Planning
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Covid-19 Policy Note Series: Urban Transport
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A Review of State Government Policies for Electric Mobility
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by and - Role of Indian businesses in driving ambitious climate action
There is now growing consensus around a key finding first published by the IPCC in 2018: the world needs to reach net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by mid-century to meet the 1.5° C temperature target of the Paris Agreement, something which will require transformational changes across energy and transport systems, industrial technologies and processes, and lifestyles.
UN Environment’s Emissions Gap Report...
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by and - Five ways in which Carbon Markets can boost India’s climate efforts
This is the first blog in a new series on carbon markets in India. In this blog series, we will share insights from WRI India’s corporate carbon market simulation in which more than 20 leading Indian companies participated during 2020-2021.
In December 2020, the Government of India constituted an Apex Committee to oversee India’s Implementation of the Paris Agreement. This...
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by - Seven unfolding stories of environment and development to shape India in 2021
On January 30, 2020 within two weeks of the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring a pandemic worldwide, India reported its first COVID-19 infection. Subsequently, the first lockdown was announced on March 25. Close on its heels followed a mass migration of workers from parts of the country. This resulted in the displacement of nearly 10 million rural migrants and shortly after, the loss of millions of jobs. At the time of writing, India has more than 1.2 crore total reported cases and also has the world’s highest number of recoveries. Worldwide, there are over 13 crore cases, with US...
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by , and - Exploring Carbon Neutral Development for India’s Subnational Regions
Many countries, subnational regions, and companies have recently announced carbon neutrality or net zero emission targets. The world as a whole needs to become carbon neutral by the middle of the 21st century to limit global warming to 1.5C.
For India, development is a priority, but India’s subnational...
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by , and - Battery Swapping: An Alternative Fast Re-fueling Option for E-2Ws and E-3Ws in India
With the Indian government making persistent efforts for deeper penetration of the Electric Vehicle (EV) industry in the country, the automobile market is on the verge of transitioning to electric vehicles. It is committed to a goal of making 30% of the vehicular traffic electric by 2030. However, the discussion around EVs inexorably drifts towards charging infrastructure. The two potential models...
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by , and - Metro Lines: Game Changing Opportunity for Locating Jobs in Mumbai
The Union Budget 2021 laid out an elaborate financial package to develop metro rail lines across cities. While more metro lines are being envisioned with a focus on building back the economy, post-pandemic mass transit infrastructure also needs to be leveraged to sustain the growth of jobs and urban economy. One such clear opportunity lies before the Mumbai Metro.
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by and - Urban Greening for Cooling Cities
Over the past two decades, extreme temperature events have increased in frequency and severity around the world. The number of people exposed to heat waves has increased by approximately 125 million across the globe. It is estimated that 39% of the global work hours lost due to acute heat were in India alone amounting to 118 billion hours. In fact, cities like Singapore have developed a...
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by - Prioritising Safer Roads to Ensure Safer Users
Road traffic injuries (RTIs) are a global epidemic. Every year over 1.35 million people across the world lose their lives due to road traffic incidents. According to the World Health Organisation’s Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018, RTIs are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29. They continue to be a major developmental issue in India as well. As per the Accidental...
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by - Air quality management in Indian cities and challenges
This blog was originally posted on NIUA.org
The air quality in most Indian cities is quite poor with a high concentration of PM 2.5. 21 of the most polluted top 30 global cities are in India. In recent decades, increasing urbanization, vehicle population growth, insufficient infrastructure to support municipal solid waste management, and biomass burning for cooking have aggravated the situation further in urban areas. Presently...
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by , and - Inclusivity as a climate action planning strategy
This blog was originally posted on NIUA.org
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit health, livelihoods, and the economy across India. It is an added threat to the risk that climate change poses to development and shared prosperity. Similar to the pandemic, the impacts of climate change, especially extreme weather events, are also felt disproportionately by the poor and the marginalized. During the lockdown, when Cyclone Amphan hit the east coast of India and Cyclone...
