Climate change mitigation involves strategies aimed at decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting renewable energy sources, improving energy efficiency, and implementing sustainable practices. CSTEP focuses on building models to simulate India's future across sectors, such as transport, industries, buildings, agriculture, and forestry, to find interventions required to achieve a sustainable and secure future. Our work also involves the study of certain themes that cut across sectors (quality of life and development vs climate action, water and land demands for agriculture vs power, etc).
CSTEP's SAFARI model: Balancing development with climate action requires a good understanding of the interactions between sectors, natural resource systems, and environmental externalities. The Climate Change Mitigation at CSTEP has undertaken a modelling study with the aim to provide such an understanding and help create scenarios for low-carbon development through the use of an interactive simulation tool called Sustainable Alternative Futures for India (SAFARI). You can access the tool here.
SAFARI estimates the energy, emissions, and resources implications of achieving developmental goals such as food, housing, healthcare, education, power for all, and transport up to 2050. The user interface allows you to explore these implications as well as the trade-offs between them. Using SAFARI, you can create integrated scenarios across sectors and test out the impact of policy choices on energy, emissions, and resources. Ultimately, we hope that this tool can be used to provide insights into developing and tracking India's long-term strategy (LTS) in line with the Paris Agreement. For more information, please contact safari@cstep.in
Electric Vehicle Demand Projection for Bengaluru and Power Demand Management
According to data from the International Energy Agency (2020) and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (2018), it is estimated that more than 90% of CO2 emissions from the transport sector is from road transport. The Government of India (GoI) has taken several steps to electrify the transport sector. In 2013, India expanded its decarbonisation vision by launching the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) for 2020.
India Solar Energy Market Outlook 2022
At the recently concluded 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, India announced that it will raise its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030. Solar energy will play a key role in achieving this target.
Global Warming at Doorstep, We Need Planning with Climate Lens
Karnataka experienced floods this year - the fourth consecutive year since 2018. In the past decade, Karnataka has also experienced drought conditions.
Post-pandemic Recovery Through Landscape Restoration
Land degradation as one of the mega drivers of loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services has affected billions globally, resulting in rampant loss of livelihoods and accelerated distress migration. India, one of the land degradation hotspots in Asia, has also been reeling under the impacts of the ongoing climate and pandemic crises, which have seriously imperiled local livelihoods and human well-being.
District-Level Changes in Climate: Historical Climate and Climate Change Projections for the Eastern States of India
The impacts of climate variability, climate change, and extreme events are visible globally and in India. The Global Climate Risk Index 2021 ranks India seventh, considering the extent to which India has been affected by the impacts of weather-related loss events (storms, floods, heatwaves, etc.). The index signals that repercussions of escalating climate change are exacerbating and can no longer be ignored.
Win-win Transportation Strategies for India: Linking Air Pollution and Climate Mitigation
This article analyzes road transport in India to explore linkages between air pollution and climate change policies in the transportation sector. Five teams modeled five policy scenarios – fuel efficiency, electrification, alternative fuels, modal shifts, and moderation in transport demand – to explore which policy brings the largest synergetic effects in reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) and particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions. The teams also modeled the comprehensive scenario which included policy measures from individual scenarios.
Identification of Polluting Sources for Bengaluru – Source Apportionment Study
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India, launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in 2019, with the aim to improve air-quality levels in non-attainment cities. NCAP has identified 122 non-attainment cities (cities that violate the national ambient air quality standards). Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka state, is one of the non-attainment cities. In this context, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has put forth action points for reducing the air-pollution levels in the city.
Emission Inventory and Pollution Reduction Strategies for Bengaluru
Growing air pollution poses a serious health risk in India. The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), was launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in 2019, with the target to reduce particulate matter concentration level by 20-30% in several non-attainment cities in India. These non-attainment cities do not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Bengaluru has been identified as one of the non-attainment cities of India under NCAP.
Going Smart With Energy Audit
The Indian power ministry recently mandated periodic energy accounting to reduce electricity losses for distribution companies (DISCOMs). This move will help identify areas of high transmission and distribution (T&D) losses and theft and enable corrective action. It will also provide detailed information about electricity consumption by different consumer categories and will make DISCOM officials accountable for any losses and/or thefts falling under their purview.
Financially Sound Utilities Are Imperative for Universal Access to Affordable and Clean Energy
Energy is central to almost every challenge we face today — security, climate change, food production, or job creation. Access to electricity brings concrete health benefits, besides an evident improvement in wellbeing. For the emerging economies in the Global South, universal access to energy can result in improvement in various areas. Among them are education, health, and productivity.