Policy Brief
Emissions control in thermal power stations: Issues, challenges, and the way forward
21 Feb 2020
| Mr Raghav Pachouri
| Mr A K Saxena
As per TERI's analysis, of the total environmental pollution in 2016, the power sector reportedly accounted for 51% of sulphur dioxide (SO2), 43% of carbon dioxide (CO2), 20% of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and 7% of PM2.5 emissions.
Regulatory mechanisms for electric three-wheelers
18 Feb 2020
| Ms Palak Thakur
| Ms Sugandha Pal
Electrification of auto-rickshaws plays an important role in meeting the transport requirement of many large and medium Indian cities and is critical for reducing air pollution and providing clean mobility solutions. The electrification of auto-rickshaws may result in lower operation and maintenance costs as compared to Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles making them economically viable for the owner/driver. Despite many initiatives and programmes of the government, such as the Faster Adoption of Manufacturing Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) in India, the growth of electric vehicles (EVs) is still not able to pick up the pace.
Mainstreaming urban resilience: Lessons from Indian cities
12 Feb 2020
| Ms Adishree Panda
| Ms Bhavya Bogra
| Ms Raina Singh (NIUA)
Building urban resilience is imperative for safeguarding urban investments and paving the way for a forward-looking, risk-aware, inclusive and integrated approach to sustainable urban development in India.
Meeting the challenges of human-wildlife conflict reconciliation in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve
06 Feb 2020
| Mr Siddharth S Edake
| Mr Jitendra Vir Sharma
| Mr Yatish A Lele
| Prerna Singh
Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) leads to the bearing of direct as well as indirect economic costs of conflict by the communities. Such losses can seriously dent the incomes of concerned community members and result in increased antagonism towards conservation in general. This research in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) highlights that communities have to incur major economic losses due to crop depredation and the average annual household monetary losses are highest in Katarniaghat – 10.17% of the average annual household income followed by 7.25% of the average annual household income in Dudhwa and 5.8% of the average annual household income in Kishanpur.
Discussion Paper: Aligning India's Sanitation Policies with the SDGs
31 Jan 2020
| Dr Girija K Bharat
| Mr Nathaniel B Dkhar
| Ms Mary Abraham
Our paper dwells on the policies, programs of the 'sanitation' subsector and explores current government policies in India for the linkages with ‘sanitation’ component of the SDG 6 as well as their implications for the other SDGs.
Crop residue management: Solution to achieve better air quality
30 Jan 2020
| Dr Arindam Datta
| Dr N K Ram
| Mr Sunil Dhingra
| Mr Mrinal A. Emmanuel
Residents of different cities (probably villages too) of India breathe some of the least healthy air of the globe. During 2017, about 76.8% of the population of India were exposed to annual population-weighted mean PM2·5 greater than the limit recommended by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQ: 40 mg/m3) (Balakrishnan, Dey, Gupta, et al. 2019). Over last five years, the annual population-weighted mean ambient PM2·5 concentrations were significantly higher over the Indo- Gangetic Plain (IGP) region in comparison to other parts of the country. It should also be noted that polluted air is the second highest health risk factor in India (Balakrishnan, Dey, Gupta, et al. 2019).
Accelerating the uptake of energy-efficient air conditioners in India
30 Jan 2020
| Mr Manjeet Singh
| Mr Gaurav Phore
The energy demand for HVAC in India has been increasing continuously over the past years and is projected to grow even more as per ICAP. This policy brief assesses the issues associated with relatively low share of 5-star ACs in the total annual production and gives a detailed outline of various options to increase the market share for the energy-efficient 5-star room ACs in India. The comparative analysis of the options discussed in the policy brief is done by taking into account the factors such as cost, efficiency, political acceptability, net benefit and extent of uncertainty.
Carbon finance: Solution for mitigating human–wildlife conflict in and around critical tiger habitats of India
29 Jan 2020
| Mr Yatish A Lele
| Mr Jitendra Vir Sharma
Our study in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh indicates to the fact that use of Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards (CCBS) approach to generate carbon finance can yield 8 times more finance than just considering the aspect of carbon sequestration.
Gender and climate change: Assessing the evolution of gender mainstreaming tools
27 Dec 2019
| Ms Arunima Hakhu
Framing any climate action needs to take stock of the social contract in a community. Given the diversity in risk, resilience, preparedness, and levels of development, different communities will likely be affected non-homogeneously (Denton, 2002). Intersecting social stressors like class, caste, age, and gender, will likely become starker against the onslaught of disturbances in the form of air pollution, floods, and droughts (Rao and Hans, 2018).
Fleet Modernization: A solution to achieve better air quality
10 Dec 2019
| Ms Shivani Sharma
| Dr Anju Goel
| Mr Souvik Bhattacharjya
| Ms Mani Juneja
| Mr Nitin Bajpai
| Dr Sumit Sharma
India's transport demand has grown from a total of 5.3 million in 1981 to 230 million in 2016, with two-wheelers and cars having 73% and 14% share, respectively. Commercial vehicles though constitute only about 5% of the total fleet, contribute to nearly 80% of total PM emissions. Phase-wise implementation of fleet modernization (transforming pre BS-IV commercial vehicles to BS-VI) would lead to a 40-80% reduction in PM and NOx emissions from the sector by 2025. The total number of avoided mortality from attributable to PM5 reduction from fleet modernization between 2020 and 2040 is estimated to be more than 500,000.