Policy Brief
Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC): A technology landscape, challenges and opportunities for sustainable cooling
22 Dec 2020
| Mr Shanmuganathan K
| Mr Manjeet Singh
Cooling with its wide range of applications viz residence, commercial, transport and cold chain leaves a significant carbon footprint due to its colossal energy consumption and refrigerant practices.
Monitoring of community wastewater for early signalling the spread of COVID-19 in Chennai City
14 Dec 2020
| Ms Mary Abraham
| Dr Paromita Chakraborty
| Dr Girija K Bharat
| Ms Avanti Roy-Basu
Wastewater has emerged as a good indicator for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 as confirmed by several research studies across the globe through the detection of SARSCoV-2 Ribo Nucleic Acid (RNA) in faeces of symptomatic and asymptomatic patients.
Plastic Waste Management: Turning Challenges into Opportunities
02 Dec 2020
| Dr Suneel Pandey
| Mr Sourabh Manuja
Plastics not only are enduring, lightweight, and available at low prices, but also have very good thermal and electrical insulation properties. The versatile properties of various plastic polymers— being water-resistant, non-porous, ductile and malleable—make them suitable for manufacturing a wide range of products that also bring medical and technological advances in our modern society.
Discounting the Climate Future: Social Discount Rate for India's Climate Policy
27 Nov 2020
| Ms Saumya Malhotra
Climate change, from an economic perspective, can be understood as a market failure. The associated risks with this changing climate, as well as impacts on socio-economic systems in form of health, livelihood, food and water security, are projected to be higher with increasing global warming.
Could the National Capital Region serve as a control region for effective air quality management in Delhi?
04 Nov 2020
| Dr Sumit Sharma
| Dr Isha Khanna
Air pollution does not follow administrative boundaries, and needs to be tackled at the regional "airshed" level at which it is caused. Identifying the appropriate candidates for airshed management requires scientific analysis using systematically developed emissions inventories and dispersion models to simulate the impact of the estimated emissions on air quality.
Understanding Perspectives: A Behavioural Study in the Indian Cooling Sector
02 Nov 2020
| Mr Manjeet Singh
The impact of climate change is manifesting itself in increasingly erratic weather patterns, and even these increasing in frequency and severity. Heat waves in the summer months across the hemispheres are becoming more the norm than the exception. The 2019 report by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated that around 2.3 billion people could be both exposed and vulnerable to heatwave events due to 1.5°C of global warming.
G20 Circular Carbon Economy: Fostering Circularity in Plastics
27 Oct 2020
| Dr Shilpi Kapur
| Mr Souvik Bhattacharjya
| Ms Rachel A. Meidl
Fostering circularity in plastic use is an effective way to reduce contamination of marine and coastal environments with plastics and man-made debris. However, there are many challenges down this path.
G20's role in Marine Biodiversity
27 Oct 2020
| Ms Swati Ganeshan
| Dr Fraddry D Souza
Collectively, Group of Twenty (G20) countries are yet to reach the 10% target set under the 2020 Aichi biodiversity targets - including marine biodiversity - and SDGs. This policy brief explores policy options and best pratices for enhancing Marine Protected Areas (MPA).
Water Sustainability Assessment of Pune
16 Oct 2020
| Mr Akash Deep
| Ms Tarishi Kaushik
According to The World Bank, urban population in India was estimated to be 34.5% in the year 20191. There has been an increase in urbanization by almost 4% in the last decade due to growing migration of people from rural areas to cities in search of better job opportunities. It is estimated that at this rate by year 2030 and further in 2050, population of people living in Indian cities will go beyond 40% and 50% respectively2.
Toward a Comprehensive Approach to Youth Empowerment for Climate Action
23 Sep 2020
| Ms Neha
| Dr Leila Dagher
| Dr Miranda A Schreurs
Download This brief focuses on empowering the youth to act on climate change and environmental protection by strengthening formal and informal environmental and sustainability education. Environmental education is the foundation for problem recognition and solving.