March 2023 was the second-warmest March for the world in the last 174 years, says the March 2023 Global Climate Report by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). With the seventh-warmest January and fourth-warmest February (in the last 174 years) also being this year — as reported by NOAA — 2023 has, indeed, had a warm start. So, are warmer years becoming a reality?

Building codes are not new to India, and the first iteration of the National Building Code (NBC) dates back to 1970. While the NBC had general building guidelines in place, there were none pertaining to regulating emissions from the building sector. In 2002, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) was established under the Energy Conservation Act to spearhead energy and emission-related regulations.

India is now the eighth-largest lithium reserve country thanks to discovery in Jammu & Kashmir. This find has the potential to alter the speed of India’s decarbonisation. It puts India in much stronger position in the global critical materials trade, makes it attractive for investments in key forward-looking sectors.

India’s plans to add more than 200GW of solar PV capacity will include significant contribution of agriPV. Given the criticality of agriculture to the Indian economy and the diversity in crop production, there is need to understand in practical terms the impact of deploying agriPV on productivity, farmers incomes, linkages to foreign trade, domestic demand among other issues. This granular assessment must form the basis for developing clear guidelines, in consultation with stakeholders, on defining agriPV and parameters such as acceptable yield restriction.

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