There is little doubt that India’s water shortage problem is real and happening! Numbers confirm the alarming reality. According to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, India’s annual average per capita water availability was assessed at 1816 cubic metres and 1545 cubic metres in 2001 and 2011, respectively. This could further reduce to 1367 cubic metres in 2031. In 2019, NITI Aayog reported that nearly 600 million Indians are water-deprived and about 40% of the population will not have access to drinking water by 2030.

Climate change is the biggest challenge today and will be so in the coming decades. The increase in extreme events and their impact on natural and artificial ecosystems and lives and livelihoods are conspicuous. Formulation of climate policies and planning and implementation of programmes and projects for adaptation require climate information at various spatial scales.

India has set ambitious climate targets as part of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to tackle the climate crisis. These include short- and long-term measures such as reducing the emissions intensity by 45%, installing 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity, and achieving a net-zero economy by 2070.

An important step in this direction is the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2022, which was passed in the Rajya Sabha recently. 
 

Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Minister of Railways, has announced that the country would have its first hydrogen-powered passenger train by December 2023. The train will run on the Sonipat–Jind route in Haryana, which is 89 km. The announcement has created a buzz among researchers in the country.

But are we ready for the switch to green hydrogen in our trains? Let’s assess the economic and technical feasibility of the switch from diesel to hydrogen in passenger trains.

For adaptation measures to work efficiently, assessments of capacity, technology and financial needs should be integrated. Regional (national and sub-national) stocktakes should now be initiated to move forward with the Global Goal on Adaptation.

India is the third-largest energy producer in the world and one of the top energy consumers. To build a pathway to clean energy transition, the country has made remarkable strides by putting in place a number of measures that support renewable energy production and research.

The clean energy transition is a revolutionary idea, which should be ingrained in policy, planning, and implementation for the country to effectively achieve its energy goals.

At the recently concluded 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), India submitted its long-term strategy to achieve zero emissions by 2070. A key feature of this strategy relates to increasing energy efficiency of industries and exploring decarbonisation options for hard-to-abate sectors, which draw roughly 50% of India’s natural gas, 25% of coal, and 20% of oil resources.

India continues to champion solar power in its future plans of a 500 GW non-fossil fuel energy installation target for 2030. One major challenge is the procurement of suitable land free of socioecological constraints for renewable energy capacity. An innovative solution is the integration of solar PV systems either along the side of roads or above (highway solar) or directly on their surface (on-road solar). These approaches have the potential to be utilized on all national highways and expressways.

Soil — the second-largest natural carbon sink after oceans — has an enormous capacity to capture atmospheric carbon dioxide.
When functioning with loads of microorganisms, adequate water, air, minerals, and organic matter, soils are very much alive and healthy, sustaining ecosystems.