 The first stakeholder workshop of the study 'Reducing Carbon Footprint and Enhancing Climate Resilience of National Highways in India' was organized by TERI on January 17, 2017, at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The study, commissioned to TERI by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), focuses on estimating carbon footprint of India's National Highway network and listing interventions to reduce emissions during the construction, operations and maintenance phases; and developing methodology to assess climate vulnerability of the highway network and enhance climate resilience of National Highways through two demonstration projects. The primary objective of the workshop was to deliberate upon the key findings and interventions suggested in the interim report of the study. The session was chaired by Mr Shri Prakash, Distinguished Fellow, TERI. A presentation demonstrating the work carried out in the project was made by Mr Sharif Qamar and Ms Riya Rahiman from TERI. The presentation was followed by an interactive, Roundtable discussion with the stakeholders, including Mr Sanjay Mitra, Secretary, MoRTH, Mr Yudhvir Singh Malik, Chairman, NHAI and Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI. The workshop also witnessed participation from a diverse group of stakeholders, such as the World Bank, NHAI, National Green Highways Mission, Indian Roads Congress, Central Public Works Department, School of Planning and Architecture, contractors, consultants, engineers, and state public works departments.
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TERI organizes a Roundtable Discussion on 'Policy and Regulatory Gaps Pertaining to Bengaluru's Autorickshaw Sector' |
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 TERI is carrying out a study on regulatory and policy gaps pertaining to autorickshaw sector. As part of the project, a round-table discussion was organized on January 24, 2017 in Bengaluru. The objective of the Roundtable was to deliberate on the key policy and regulatory issues/gaps pertaining to the autorickshaw sector in Bengaluru identified from the central and state acts and policies and stakeholder consultations. The Roundtable was chaired by Mr S Sundar, Distinguished Fellow, TERI. The interactive Roundtable discussion centred around the regulatory and other gaps pertaining to the carriage system, permits and the licencing system, issues related to the financing system (including fare fixation, insurance, ownership, and finance options), lack of infrastructure, upgradation needed in the vehicle technology, and the role of auto unions and consumer perspective. The Roundtable was attended by stakeholders from the regional transport offices (RTO-AR), traffic police, and manufacturers and financers from the autorickshaw industry. |
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TERI delivers Training Programmes on Low-Carbon Trajectory and a Sustainable Pathway for the Indian Railways at IRIMEE, Jamalpur and NAIR, Vadodara |
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 Supporting the vision of Indian Railways (IR) towards a low-carbon trajectory and a sustainable pathway, TERI delivered training programmes on 'Green House Gas (GHG) Accounting and Management' at the Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (IRIMEE), Jamalpur, Bihar on February 2, 2017 and at the National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR), Vadodara on March 23-24, 2017. The training programme was developed in sync with the Railway Board's mandate of inclusion of climate change and environment-related topics in the existing training framework periodically conducted by the Railways' training institutes across India. The training programme was conducted by a team from TERI comprising Mr Arupendra Nath Mullick, Mr Abhishek Kaushik, and Mr Sharif Qamar on issues related to climate change and evolving policies; role of transport sector, including Indian Railways in the overall GHG landscape; and GHG emissions accounting exercise. It was followed by a group exercise on the topics covered during the training programme, which was attended by senior officials representing zonal headquarters, manufacturing units, and electrical/mechanical/civil departments. The training was an effort to build technical understanding and capacity to realize higher, more complex climate goals. In the past, TERI was involved in a similar training programme at the Indian Railway Institute of Civil Engineering (IRICEN), Pune in March 2016 |
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| TERI organised a seminar on Building Cities that Work at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on December 21, 2016. The seminar focussed on ways and means to shape sustainable urbanization process in India in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Indias Nationally Determined Commitment (NDC). Mr Abhas K. Jha, Practice Manager, Urban and DRM (East Asia and the Pacific), the World Bank delivered the keynote address with Dr Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson, ICRIER being the Lead Discussant. The Seminar highlighted that any efforts towards achieving SDGs will need to be scaled up and go beyond the 500 cities under AMRUT and Smart City Mission. Mr Jha also discussed the key learnings from East Asian cities and the need to explore and develop India-centric models for building sustainable and smart cities in India. The seminar was attended by urban practitioners and researchers, multilateral/bilateral organizations, peer organizations, and, networks working in the field of urban development. |
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TERI contributes to the Working Group on Urban Development with Reference to Natural and Climate-Change Related Disasters at the 6th Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development |
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 The 6th Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (APMCHUD) was organized in New Delhi from December 14-16, 2016. APMCHUD is an intergovernmental mechanism for collaboration and cooperation in the field of housing and urban development among the Asia-Pacific countries. Established under the aegis and support of UN-Habitat, APMCHUD is a consultative mechanism working towards the promotion of sustainable development of housing and urban development in the Asia-Pacific region. The permanent secretariat of APMCHUD is hosted by India in New Delhi with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA), Government of India being the nodal Ministry. APMCHUD has been playing a major role in articulating the views of countries of the Asia-Pacific region in various forums on issues relating to housing and urban development. The 6th APMCHUD conference focused on 'Emerging Urban Forms: Policy Responses and Governance Structure in the context of the New Urban Agenda'.
Ms Raina Singh, Fellow, TERI, participated in the conference and contributed to the 5th working group on 'Urban Development with Reference to Natural and Climate-Change Related Disasters'. The deliberations of the 5th working group focused on the theme: Ensuring Sustainable and Natural Disaster Resilient Urban Development including Climate Change'. The working group was led by the Republic of Indonesia and saw participation from key government and non-government organizations, policymakers, and international financing institutions from various countries across the Asia-Pacific region. The deliberations of the various working groups resulted in the formulation of the 'New Delhi Declaration 2016' towards ensuring sustainable urban development in the Asia-Pacific region. Read more at: http://www.apmchud.com |
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TERI contributes to ACCCRNs National knowledge-sharing workshop on Urban Climate Change Resilience |
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| The Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) supported by The Rockefeller Foundation has been instrumental in pioneering urban climate resilience initiatives in more than 30 cities across India in the last few years. The platform has also played a key role in facilitating a dialogue among various stakeholders including cities, state governments, policymakers, non-government organizations, etc. through a series of workshops, training programmes, and other knowledge-sharing initiatives. To this end, a National Knowledge Sharing Workshop on Urban Climate Change Resilience was organized on December 16, 2016, at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, by the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), knowledge partner for ACCCRN in India. The purpose of the workshop was to share knowledge and experience gained by various partners during the implementation of ACCCRN projects in India.
The keynote address was delivered by Shri Kamal Kishore, Member, National Disaster Management Authority. TERI contributed to the workshop in its capacity as a National partner to ACCCRN in India. Ms Raina Singh, Fellow, TERI delivered a talk in the session focusing on 'Experience of ACCCRN Partners in Working on Urban Climate Change Resilience: Challenges and Solutions'. She discussed the ways and means to sustain and scale-up the discourse on urban climate change resilience by mainstreaming in the existing urban programmes and missions of the Government of India such as AMRUT and Smart Cities Mission. Other participating organizations included TARU Leading Edge Private Limited, ICLEI, Gorakhpur Environment Action Group, National Institute of Disaster Management, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, IRADe, ICRIER, and Oxford Policy Management Limited among others. |
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| The 8th GRIHA Summit, an annual event organized by GRIHA India, was held on March 2-3, 2017 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The Summit, which was themed 'Transforming Habitats', provided a platform for discussions on energy efficiency, developing sustainable buildings and cities, and innovative ways to tackle the growing energy demand from the housing sector. The Summit managed to attract a diverse group of stakeholders, including government agencies, private developers, financiers, architects and planners, material suppliers and product manufacturers, etc. One of the sessions, focusing on sustainable city development, has been discussed below. |
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Transforming Habitats through Sustainable & Resilient Buildings |
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 As part of the GRIHA Summit, the thematic track on Transforming Habitats through Sustainable and Resilient Buildings focussed on providing perspective, insights and scenarios of various aspects of sustainability. Dr. A. K .Tripathi, Scientist (G) and Advisor (I&PA), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy was the keynote speaker for the thematic session. The discussion involved various parties such as the architects focussing on building design; researchers and academicians highlighting related studies; developers highlighting market issues; policymakers; building material specialists highlighting alternative materials; and engineers focussing on systems and retrofits. It also touched upon the role of GRIHA as a National rating tool in promoting sustainability and resilience in buildings. |
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| Content managed by the Centre for Research on Sustainable Urban Development & Transport systems (CRSUD&TS), Sustainable Habitat Division, TERI |
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