The policy brief analyses problems under Business As Usual (BAU) conditions:

• Smaller cities are emerging as the energy hotspots for the future
• If proper interventions are not enforced in these cities now, high energy use with its impact on emissions will aggravate the current environmental situation
• Smaller cities will face the same externalities of high vehicular growth in the coming decades, similar to the situation in megacities now And proposes solutions to it.

Urbanisation in India today is synonymous with booming unplanned and unsustainable mega cities .To mitigate the impact of this urban explosion and plan for the future, it is imperative to balance the demands of high growth on one hand and ensure sustainable growth on the other.

CSTEP undertook a project to develop a platform that would help model the scale and impact of disasters and provide analysis, tools and exercises to handle it. The researchers examined processes that will help refine procedures for institutional arrangements, resources and asset management. The platform envisaged in the project, called the "Living Lab", can be the central location for the Emergency Management System where all major decisions are made.

The urgent power system needs in India are not necessarily the same as those in advanced industralised countries.The same goes for the most important power system constraints.Generally, not all smart grid technologies are equally relavent worldwide. In India,the really useful technologies will be those that constrain peak demand and peak load growth at reasonable cost while cutting losses.

After Finance Ministry’s (MoF) decision to reject Commerce Ministry’s (MoC) proposal of anti-dumping duties (ADD) in late August, solar developers heaved a big sigh of relief In this article, we review the controversy generated by the proposal for ADD in the light of existing evidence and future outlook for the solar photovoltaic (SPV) industry. We find that the popular narrative took a myopic view of the SPV industry. This was exhibited by overstating the negative impact of ADD and vice-versa, and the general buoyancy around the MoF decision, as reported in the news.

Despite high targets and comprehensive policies, the deployment of renewable energy technologies has faced significant barriers in Karnataka during the past five years. This is because of the large disconnect that exists between central policies on renewable energy and regional needs. There is a need for subnational governments to play a more proactive role in renewable energy deployment.

This policy brief highlights the problems facedand the skills required to sought them Problem Highlight:
 India needs to 500 million trained
workers by 2022
 Current capacity and skill levels
are inadequate
Proposed Solutions:
 Strengthen existing institutions
and hold them responsible
 Have a single agency to
coordinate training programmes
 Create more inclusive programmes

India should clearly articulate its technology and financial requirements to move along a lower carbon intensive trajectory. It is regretted that in spite of enjoying bountiful sunshine, India chose not to harness solar energy in a major way till recently. Germany, despite its northern latitude and fewer sunshine days, is the world leader in solar energy. India should earnestly implement the recently announced ambitious solar mission with required investments and policies. This is vital not only for mitigating carbon emissions, but also for India’s energy security.