
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.
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by -Delhi’s Deadly Smog
Around the start of winter is when the conversation on air pollution in Delhi usually begins. This coincides with two key events – Diwali and crop-burning. The conversation ends around the new year, coinciding with the change in weather. However, pollution is not gone for the rest of the year, as we often think. For example, in 2018, Delhi did not have a single good air quality day. Yes, zero good air quality days out of 365 days!
Therefore, it is not surprising that as per the World...
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by -Why Do Indian Businesses Need to Take Air Pollution Seriously?
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...
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by -What Does Modi’s Re-Election Mean for India’s Climate Policy & Actions?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set for a second term in office after winning an absolute majority at the recent elections in India. In his first term, he strived to raise India’s profile in the international arena, and one of his creditable contributions in the climate space was his leadership in the formation of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) launched in 2015. In addition, the country continued in its ambitions towards climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance for various related projects.
Mitigation
At the domestic level, Modi’s...
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by -Creating Safer, Child-Friendly Streets
An ideal child-friendly city integrates the voice, needs, priorities and rights of children in its public policies, programmes and decisions. An important aspect of such a city is to provide children with an opportunity to live in a safe, secure and clean environment, with access to green spaces. By this definition, do our cities qualify as child-friendly? In India, 66 percent of parents...
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by , e -Four ways to advance subnational climate action
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)...
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by -Seven Ways India Showed Seriousness about its Clean Energy Transition in 2018
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...
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by , , e -Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation in India
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...
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by , e -Data-Driven Climate Action: Evidence-Based Policy for India’s Regions
“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 –...
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by e -Making Innovative Bus Systems a Reality - Opportunities and Challenges in India
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...
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by -PODCAST: Putting People at the Heart of Restoring Degraded Land
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...