Policy Brief
Clean Fuel for Cooking: Solution to Achieve Better Air Quality
13 Jan 2020
| Dr Debajit Palit
| Mr Martand Shardul
| Mr Deborshi Brahmachari
The policy brief 'Clean Fuel for Cooking: Solution to Achieve Better Air Quality' aims to analyse and estimate the financial support that may be required to encourage Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) consumers to switch to LPG for cooking their major meals, over and above the existing subsidy and other financial incentives, as well as to identify a suitable financing strategy to support the uptake of refills without impacting the fiscal deficit of the central government.
Gender and climate change: Assessing the evolution of gender mainstreaming tools
27 Dec 2019
| Ms Arunima Hakhu
Framing any climate action needs to take stock of the social contract in a community. Given the diversity in risk, resilience, preparedness, and levels of development, different communities will likely be affected non-homogeneously (Denton, 2002). Intersecting social stressors like class, caste, age, and gender, will likely become starker against the onslaught of disturbances in the form of air pollution, floods, and droughts (Rao and Hans, 2018).
Fleet Modernization: A solution to achieve better air quality
10 Dec 2019
| Ms Shivani Sharma
| Ms Anju Goel
| Mr Souvik Bhattacharjya
| Ms Mani Juneja
| Mr Nitin Bajpai
| Dr Sumit Sharma
India's transport demand has grown from a total of 5.3 million in 1981 to 230 million in 2016, with two-wheelers and cars having 73% and 14% share, respectively. Commercial vehicles though constitute only about 5% of the total fleet, contribute to nearly 80% of total PM emissions. Phase-wise implementation of fleet modernization (transforming pre BS-IV commercial vehicles to BS-VI) would lead to a 40-80% reduction in PM and NOx emissions from the sector by 2025. The total number of avoided mortality from attributable to PM5 reduction from fleet modernization between 2020 and 2040 is estimated to be more than 500,000.
Opportunities with Biofuel: Co-benefit of Air Quality Improvement
05 Dec 2019
| TERI
| Finnish Meteorological Institute, Finland
| Tampere University, Finland
While biofuels have been discussed as one of the ways to reduce air pollution, changing the process of bio-diesel production is needed to reduce tailpipe emissions of nanoparticles. These are lesser known pollutants even more harmful than PM2.5 and PM10.
Nutrient pollution in the South Asia Seas (SAS)
03 Dec 2019
| Ms Mrinal Mathur
Anthropogenic activities like (i) agriculture fertilisers, (ii) coastal pisciculture, (i) sewage discharge, (iv) industrial activity, (v) burning fossil fuels and (vi) effluents from ports increase nutrients in surface water and seas. Nitrate pollution is largely caused by agriculture run-off, discharge from industry and manure or sewage. Phosphate pollution is tied to improper treatment of detergents in wastewater and from agro-fertilisers. These land-based pollutants make their way to coastal waters through networks of rivers and streams and cause nutrient pollution in the marine environment.
Discussion Paper on Clean Development Mechanism as Catalyst for Sustainable Development Mechanism Under Article 6.4
27 Nov 2019
| Mr R R Rashmi
| Ms Ritu Ahuja
Institutional Readiness to Implement the Enhanced Transparency Framework: Is India Ready?
22 Nov 2019
| Ms Vani Rijhwani
The idea of transparency for reporting and reviewing information on climate policies and measures taken by Parties has emerged as one of the key elements gaining attention and weight under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The transparency framework has been evolving in detail and complexity aimed at maximizing mutual confidence between Parties while ensuring that the Parties are not unduly stretched beyond their capacities.
Climate change impacts on Himalayan glaciers and implications on energy security of India
08 Nov 2019
| Dr Shresth Tayal
Climate change has a strong influence on the precipitation over the Himalayas as well as melting response of glaciers or snow cover in Himalayas. This, in turn, affects the runoff pattern of rivers draining from the glaciated catchments of Himalayas. Three major river catchments along with their several tributaries originating from Indian as well as Nepal part of Himalayas receive a significant contribution from the Himalayan cryosphere, especially during the non-rainfall lean period of the year.
Understanding India's electricity sector transition to renewables
04 Oct 2019
| Mr Thomas Spencer
An overview of the emerging transition of the Indian power sector to higher share of renewable energy