Climate Change

Developed countries need to scale up their climate finance commitments to enable developing countries to transition and adapt to climate change. Developing countries need to meet them halfway by being more ambitious about mitigation targets.

The decision of moving away from fossil fuels, and operationalisation of the loss and damage fund are major wins from COP28.

The country’s transition rate to clean cooking fuel has to be tripled to meet SDG 7 goals and mitigate health and climate change.

The transformative potential of decarbonisation is that it can meet socio-economic goals better than current development pathways.

My core concern here is to wrestle with the idea of ‘nature’ and with the ‘ways in which we relate to it’. A nature that is both in us as humans, and the many nature(s), animate and non-animate, outside of us. Thus it seems possible to think of nature in singular and plural terms. I will argue that in order to combat the existential threats we face, as a society and as a planet; it is time to go back in some ways and go forward in others.

Climate change and inequality are deeply intertwined. Globally, it poses a threat to women and girls' lives, livelihoods, health, safety, and security. The issue of gender inequality is often addressed by portraying women as mere victims without acknowledging their contributions as climate actors.

From New Delhi to Bangkok to Seoul, Asia is facing the world’s most serious air pollution catastrophe.  Experts say this poor air quality becomes fatal with the onset of heat waves and drought from climate change, but citizens are coming up with their own solutions to tackle the dirty air.

From New Delhi to Bangkok to Seoul, Asia is facing the world’s most serious air pollution catastrophe.  Experts say this poor air quality becomes fatal with the onset of heat waves and drought from climate change, but citizens are coming up with their own solutions to tackle the dirty air.

After the record-breaking rains that led to extreme floods in May and June 2022, Assam is reeling under drought. In this article, we analyse various human-induced and geological factors contributing to this calamity. While the government is pushing for more connectivity through roads and railways coupled with flood control through dams and embankments over the fragile ecology, these measures may have turned against the people and ecology of the region.

Assam in Northeast India has become more vulnerable than ever as millions have been displaced by floods due to excess pre-monsoon rains followed by a rain deficit. Aiding this vulnerability is a large infrastructure push in these regions primarily by the Central Government. In this article, we report the 2022 floods as the disaster unfolded in the state.

Scientific institutions like IPCC must communicate with the masses for effective climate action.  

There are some welcome allocations and indications of shifts in thinking (e.g. in agriculture and climate). However, overall, environment continues to be a ‘sideshow’ – it is given a few token sops, while in fact financial allocations continue to fuel an economy that is fundamentally unsustainable. 

The Glasgow climate conference has delivered enough to keep the hope alive for meeting the 1.5°C climate goal.

A great hype has been created around the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) at Glasgow. John Kerry, the US climate Czar, has repeatedly called the meeting the world’s “last best chance” to avoid climate hara-kiri. Similar sentiment has been expressed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. More than 100 world leaders attended this climate gala in the first week, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden.

On the first day of the Glasgow climate conference – COP26 – the biggest announcement came from India. Ending speculations on whether India ‘will’ or ‘can’ make a net-zero pledge, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the country will reach net-zero emissions by 2070. How ambitious are these targets?

COVID-19 has reminded the world about the implications of destroying the nature. But, the world has an excellent opportunity to do something meaningful to not just reverse biodiversity loss but also improve it. In 2021, at the UN Biodiversity Conference, countries will come together to adopt a new global biodiversity strategy for the next decade – the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. We must learn from the past frameworks, especially the Aichi targets' achievements, and design a quantifiable and measurable framework. Besides, we must address zoonosis as an essential component of the post-2020 framework.

It is in India's interest that the global emissions are reduced significantly. For this, India will have to take a leadership role in climate negotiations. The energy transition taking place in the country provides space for India to be a leader in climate actions.