In line with last year’s commitment to achieving net zero by 2070, India, at its pavilion at the 27th session of the Conference of Parties or COP27 is talking about a climate-friendly, sustainable lifestyle. As renewable energy (RE) plays a huge role in cutting down GHG emissions, the country has already pledged to have 500 GW of non-fossil-fuel-based capacity by 2030.

Low-cost sensors (LCSs) have revolutionized the air pollution monitoring landscape. However, the sensitivities of particulate matter (PM) LCS measurements to various particle microphysical properties and meteorological aspects warrant an accuracy investigation. We investigated the inter- and intracity variations in the accuracy of LCS-measured PM2.5 across geographically and demographically distinct Indian cities.

While carbon taxes can disproportionately hurt the poor, governments can plough back some of this revenue to mitigate inequities, while incentivising low-carbon technological alternatives.

The inclusion of loss and damage (L&D) to the COP27 agenda is a positive first step in achieving climate justice. While vulnerable nations have been fighting for its inclusion into global discourses for decades, the recent climate-induced disasters across the world, especially in Pakistan, have played a pivotal role in its induction.

At the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP27, India released its long-term low-carbon development strategies. Low-carbon development of India’s electricity systems is crucial because the power sector accounts for 45% of the country’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (based on emission estimates published by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change). The power sector is a key driver for decarbonising nearly all major energy-intensive sectors as it enables the shift to renewable energy-based electricity from the current fossil fuel–based processes.

Call for action on climate finance, international technology transfer, and capacity building is India’s central agenda at COP 27 and has been our focus at past COPs as well. So far, there is some information and discussion and certain action points on climate finance; however, there is little clarity with respect to technology transfer mechanisms and capacity building.

The ongoing transition from fossil fuel to green fuel is a giant step that every country is willing to take irrespective of its challenges—in a bid to achieve the net-zero emissions goals by 2050. Large-scale electric vehicle (EV) adoption is one of the ways of achieving these ambitious goals. However, the challenges associated with conventional lithium-ion battery (LiB) technology—a key component of EVs— threaten to slow down the adoption of EVs at a mass level.

India has the fourth largest installed capacity of wind energy in the world, with the addition of 41 GW as of June 2022. However, this figure is quite low when we consider India’s potential of 695.5 GW at 120 m hub height and 302 GW at 100 m hub height. To unlock the true potential of wind energy in India and generate power efficiently, current wind farm designs need to be optimised. Increasing the hub height and optimising the positioning of turbines are two options that play a huge role in efficient power generation and land utilisation.

The embracing of rapid urbanisation for better lifestyles has led to mindless concretisation, proving to be one of the biggest threats to the outdoor temperature in cities.
Commonly known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, this localised phenomenon causes a rise in the land surface temperature (LST) as materials absorb and retain heat. This leads to a series of direct and indirect impacts on citizens, biodiversity, and emissions.