As a developing economy, India has numerous developmental aspirations. How India meets these goals without worsening the climate crisis is at the heart of CSTEP's work. Addressing climate change and enabling a secure and sustainable future for Indian citizens require an overhaul of previous paradigms on development and resource utilisation. This is reflected in our work on developing low-carbon trajectories for development with an emphasis on nature-based solutions.
We are working with state governments across India to build capacity on risk and vulnerability assessments to inform their respective action plans on climate change. The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is crucial to achieving a secure and sustainable future. CSTEP's studies explore the possibility of a greater integration of renewables in the energy sector.
No Silver Bullet: Considerations for India’s Net-Zero Strategy
CSTEP's latest report No Silver Bullet: Essays on India’s Net-Zero Transition throws up some pertinent questions on India's net-zero strategy. CSTEP organised a virtual event on 15 December 2022 to discuss the questions and considerations brought up by the report. For more details, please refer to the concept note and agenda.
Revenue recycling: How governments can address carbon pricing trade-offs
While carbon taxes can disproportionately hurt the poor, governments can plough back some of this revenue to mitigate inequities, while incentivising low-carbon technological alternatives.
Towards a Policy Framework for Financing Future Loss and Damage
The inclusion of loss and damage (L&D) to the COP27 agenda is a positive first step in achieving climate justice. While vulnerable nations have been fighting for its inclusion into global discourses for decades, the recent climate-induced disasters across the world, especially in Pakistan, have played a pivotal role in its induction.
India's latest National Electricity Plan is ambitious and in line with climate commitments
At the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP27, India released its long-term low-carbon development strategies. Low-carbon development of India’s electricity systems is crucial because the power sector accounts for 45% of the country’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (based on emission estimates published by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change). The power sector is a key driver for decarbonising nearly all major energy-intensive sectors as it enables the shift to renewable energy-based electricity from the current fossil fuel–based processes.
Tackling technology transfer
Call for action on climate finance, international technology transfer, and capacity building is India’s central agenda at COP 27 and has been our focus at past COPs as well. So far, there is some information and discussion and certain action points on climate finance; however, there is little clarity with respect to technology transfer mechanisms and capacity building.
Can Relieving the Urban Fever Help Our Climate?
The embracing of rapid urbanisation for better lifestyles has led to mindless concretisation, proving to be one of the biggest threats to the outdoor temperature in cities.
Commonly known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, this localised phenomenon causes a rise in the land surface temperature (LST) as materials absorb and retain heat. This leads to a series of direct and indirect impacts on citizens, biodiversity, and emissions.
Unnatural, Excessive & Toxic
What is un-natural in today’s context is that in just 200 years, there’s been a 40% increase in carbon dioxide which has already caused warming of 1 degree. Not only is the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide higher than what scientists have observed in 800,000 years, but current warming on Earth is occurring ten times faster than normally seen during an inter-glacial period.
No silver bullet: Essays on India’s net-zero transition
India announced its net-zero target for the year 2070. Long-term projection models are expected to play an important role in developing India’s strategies to achieve this target. However, developing such long-term strategies is a very complex and challenging task because of the uncertainties involved in looking at such long-time horizons.