Publications

Sustainability Dynamics of Resource Use and Economic Growth

Policy brief
| August 31, 2015

All economies of the world depend upon the use of renewable natural resources1 for their growth. This relationship inherently reflects that continued increase in extraction of resources is a must to sustain economic growth. Inevitably, a tipping point is reached from where the regeneration rates of the resources diminish due to depletion of the resource stock. The resource production peaks and declines which lead to a delayed feedback on the economy, ultimately restricting its ability to grow and sustain its level of output.

Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) Towards Cleaning India: A Policy Perspective

Policy brief
| August 31, 2015

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals have emphasized on the achievement of universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water and adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all 1(Box 1). India has been able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the water sector, but it has been lagging in the sanitation sector. According to the recently launched Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP)2 update (2015), about 564 million people practice open defecation in India out of 946 million open defecators of the world.

Solar PV for Enhancing Electricity Access in Kenya: What Policies are Required?

Policy brief
| July 1, 2015

Modern energy services are crucial to human well-being and to a country's economic development; and yet globally over 1.3 billion people are without access to electricity and 2.6 billion people are without clean cooking facilities. More than 95 per cent of these people are either in Sub-Saharan African or developing Asia and 84 per cent are in rural areas (International Energy Agency, 2015).

Towards a Policy for Climate Resilient Infrastructure and Services in Coastal Cities

Policy brief
| June 11, 2015

The policy brief is based on the learning that emerged from TERI's year-long study which looked at the impacts of Sea Level Rise (SLR) and other climate parameters such as storm surges and extreme rainfall on infrastructure and services of coastal cities. Granted by USAID as part of their Climate Change Resilient Development (CCRD) - Climate Adaptation Small Grants Program, the thematic area for the study was 'Climate Resilient Infrastructure Services'(CRIS) and the case study cities were Panaji in Goa and Visakhapatnam or Vizag in Andhra Pradesh.

Discussion Paper : Moving Forward with a World-class Mineral Policy for National Mineral Security

Policy brief
| June 9, 2015

The National Policy 2008 was a significant step in the evolution of India's Mineral Policy based on the experience of the Policy of 1993. The policymakers were fortunate in having at hand the recommendations of the High-level Committee (popularly called the Hoda Committee) which not only analysed the situation in the Indian context, but also looked at the international context and global best practices. The NMP 2008 comprehensively outlines the policy solutions that need to be established to address the challenges that are being faced by the minerals sector in India.

Bundling Improved Cooking and Lighting Technology for Energy Access

Policy brief
| June 8, 2015

There is no definitive understanding of what energy services are entailed in 'access to energy' for a household. The Global Tracking Framework of SE4All1 provides a comprehensive definition of energy access-positing that a household in the basic 'tier' of energy access has 'task lighting and phone charging' and a 'manufactured solid-fuel cookstove with conformity, convenience, and adequacy'. India has 75 million households without access to electricity.2 The situation with regard to cooking energy is more overwhelming-166 million households depend on solid fuels3 for their cooking needs.

Discussion Paper : Mainstreaming Gender in Improved Cookstove Value Chains

Policy brief
| June 3, 2015

Lack of convenient, reliable, and affordable access to clean cookstoves risks the lives and livelihoods of millions of women in rural India. In the patriarchal rural society, cooking and collection of fuel are tasks typically performed by women (Dutta 2003). Household air pollution, primarily from inefficient cookstoves, leads to 1.04 million premature deaths in India annually (Balakrishnan, Cohen and Smith 2014), disproportionately affecting women and young children. Women spend a considerable amount of time, effort, and money collecting fuel wood (Sehjpal et al.

Discussion Paper : Organic Agriculture: An option for fostering sustainable and inclusive agriculture development in India

Policy brief
| June 2, 2015

Land scarcity, degraded ecosystems and climate change are pressures that the agriculture sector confronts in the 21st century whilst needing to meet demands for food, feed and fibre, preserve natural resources as well as ensure profitability, economic and social equity (FAO, 2015). Industrialized agriculture,1 which is capital intensive, substituting animal and human labour with machines and purchased inputs (IAASTD, 2009) has been the favoured model for agriculture development due to its tremendous success in increasing food production.

Selecting the Appropriate Improved Cooking Technology: What Matters?

Policy brief
| May 11, 2015

Improved biomass cookstoves projects are being prioritized, nationally and internationally, for development funding in India. While the Government of India’s National Biomass cookstoves Programme1 is the largest of its kind, there are many other national and regional improved cookstoves projects being implemented by multilateral and bilateral agencies.

Supply-side Financing of Improved Biomass Cookstoves in India

Policy brief
| May 11, 2015

Even as India rapidly emerges as a global centre of technology development, around 780 million of its citizens are estimated to cook food on traditional stoves that burn solid fuels.1 Smoky as these cookstoves are, the household air pollution resulting from them is attributed to cause 1.04 million premature deaths annually, from cancer, respiratory problems, and other ailments.2 Currently, the dominant biomass energy technologies, for cooking in households, are traditional chulhas, i.e., mud stoves along with some cement and pottery or brick stoves, normally with no operating chimneys or ho