The article originally appeared in The Times of India Exactly three years back, single-use plastics (SUPs) took centre stage in India when PM Modi, on June 5, 2018, announced that the country would completely phase out these products by 2022. Now, barely a year before the deadline, the Union environment ministry has issued a draft notification […]
The article originally appeared in The Times of India A storm is brewing on the climate diplomacy front that India needs to navigate carefully to avoid becoming a fall guy. The issue at hand is the pledge by countries to achieve “net zero” emission by the mid-century. Over 120 countries have already announced their intention
Who’s afraid of net zero target? Read More »
This article was originally published in Oxford Climate Policy Blog Political Summary Two 5-year cycles currently drive the implementation of the Paris Agreement (PA): one of communicating national targets (“Nationally Determined Contributions” NDCs) and one of taking stock of global efforts. In order to complete the ambition mechanism of the PA, which is critical for its full operationalisation
The Glasgow Ambition Cycle — Domestic Considerations Read More »
The article originally appeared in The Times of India The private sector in India has traditionally avoided engagement on climate issues publicly. But this seems to be changing. On November 5, 2020, 24 leading companies signed a ‘declaration of the private sector on climate change’ to tackle the climate crisis. This is an important beginning
This article was originally published in The Times of India Railways fascinate me. Professionally, I advocate for a massive expansion of rail networks to address the air pollution and climate crisis. Rail transport is not only highly energy efficient compared to road and air transport, it can also completely shift to renewable energy. It will,
This article originally appeared in The Times of India ‘We need to act for the Amazon and act for our planet,’ said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when fires ravaged the Amazon rainforest in August 2019. He was joined by many Western countries in preaching the virtues of protecting the ‘global common’ for combating climate
India’s Arctic policy must push Western countries to give up double standards Read More »
This article originally appeared in The Times of India The world is not only suffering because of Covid and economic distress. It’s also reeling due to climate disasters. The year 2020 is likely to be one of the three warmest years on record, and 2011-20 will be the warmest decade on record. 2020 has witnessed
This article originally appeared in The Times of India The writing is on the wall. A few days back, Coal India Limited (CIL), the world’s biggest coal producer and India’s largest CO2 emitter, announced its plans to become a ‘net-zero energy company’ by 2023-24. The company plans to install 3,000 MW of solar power to
This article originally appeared in Times of India This is a straightforward article to discuss the real issues concerning stubble burning, including its contribution to pollution in Delhi-NCR, and why the solutions promoted by the government are not working. Let’s start with the contribution of stubble burning to air pollution in Delhi-NCR. While we can
How to control air pollution from stubble burning Read More »
This article originally appeared in Times of India On its 46th foundation day, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) released two reports that should force us to re-examine our approach towards controlling air pollution. The first report is the ‘National Ambient Air Quality Status & Trends 2019’, which contains air quality data for 344 cities/
We have been barking up the wrong tree on air pollution Read More »