India generates an enormous amount of waste, including municipal solid waste (MSW), industrial waste, hazardous waste, and biological waste. According to the State of India's Environment 2023 report, MSW generation in India is estimated to be around 150,000 tonne per day (TPD). To harness the energy potential of this waste and reduce reliance on landfills, waste-to-energy (WTE) processes are being explored across India.

Any development programme can foster climate adaptation and mitigation benefits; it must also, however, feature self-reflection and system assessments. The renowned ecologist C.S. Holling, who brought resilient thinking to the forefront of socio-ecological studies, asserted that systems must evolve while they build resilience. If the baseline system itself is fundamentally unjust and unsustainable, then evolving to a new system is preferable to belatedly attempting to add resilience.

The world is witnessing the increasing impacts of climate change at an alarming rate. Wildfires, floods, cyclones, and heatwaves have become uncomfortably common today. Current research in climate sciences tells us that even if we were to completely stop producing greenhouse gases today, we would still face the detrimental impacts of climate change due to historical emissions. Additionally, the impacts of climate change are not felt in isolation.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Sixth Assessment Report has, for the first time in the three-decade history of its reports, dedicated an entire chapter to innovation and technological development. The immense potential of new technologies for climate adaptation and mitigation is being recognised by policymakers and investors alike.

India is among the top five leading countries in solar power installed capacity. Of India’s ambitious target of 500-GW RE capacity by 2030, over 292 GW is likely to be generated using solar power. This increase in installed capacity, while promising, also opens doors to massive waste streams and increased emissions. According to the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy’s (CSTEP’s) analysis, India is projected to generate approximately 4.5 million tonnes of solar photovoltaic (PV) waste by 2050.

In 2021-2022, India surpassed Brazil to become the largest sugar producer in the world, producing 359 lakh tonnes – an all-time high. But this isn’t sweet news: with the resources that go into making all that sugar dwindling at an alarming rate, India’s sugar market might slip into its biggest crisis ever in the coming decades.