Category: Environment

By 2047, India plans to become an economically developed country. By 2070, it aims to become a net-zero emissions economy. Achieving both of these targets requires the Indian government to deal with one of the most important sources of emissions: construction. This sector consumes steel and cement, among other materials, and its footprint contributes 35%...

Relative humidity is a simple concept as weather phenomena go – but it has significant, far-reaching consequences for how we must take care of ourselves on a hot or wet day. Letting the wind flow freely is the secret to cooling our cities Humidity is the amount of moisture in the air around us, and...

When leaders visit the coral atolls that form the Pacific nation of Tuvalu on October 5, they will find a once-vibrant ecosystem wiped out due to climate change. The pre-COP gathering, hosted by Fiji ahead of the annual UN climate conference in Turkey, has been billed as the Pacific’s chance to show the world first-hand...

The El Niño Southern Oscillation is a climate phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean that happens every two to seven years. Its effects, however, are global. This year, weather agencies worldwide are tracking a supposed ‘super’ El Niño. The El Niño refers to surface waters of the Pacific Ocean off the western coast of Peru and...

The National River-Linking Project is the world’s most ambitious project of its kind to date, proposing to link 37 major river basins across India using 30 links, potentially redistributing around 174 billion cubic metres of water from ‘surplus’ to ‘deficit’ basins while generating some 34,000 MW of power. Yet the Project has also raised serious...

The National River-Linking Project is the world’s most ambitious project of its kind to date, proposing to link 37 major river basins across India using 30 links, potentially redistributing around 174 billion cubic metres of water from ‘surplus’ to ‘deficit’ basins while generating some 34,000 MW of power. Yet the Project has also raised serious...

The next United Nations climate change conference, COP31, will be held in Antalya in Türkiye in November this year. Türkiye will be hosting the event, with its environment minister Murat Kurum serving as COP31 president. Australia will oversee the negotiations process, with its energy and climate change minister Chris Bowen as the vice-president of COP31....

Nicolai Ivanovich Vavilov (1887-1943) was a remarkable agricultural scientist in the former USSR. His name is familiar to some as an ‘Indiana Jones’ who roamed around the world collecting crops and seeds, as someone who established the first global seed bank, as a martyr who died in prison despite his extraordinary accomplishments, and as the...

As India expands its clean energy capacity, finding land for solar projects is becoming a challenge. This is driving interest in innovative solar solutions that can generate power without needing more land. The recently approved PM Surya Sarovar Yojana (PM-SSY) is a step in this direction, aiming to develop 5,000 MW of floating solar capacity...

As many as 188 of India’s scientists and ecologists jointly published an appeal to fellow researchers and field practitioners to prepare for the effects of upcoming El Niño — a global weather phenomenon that dampens the monsoon and leads to extreme hot and dry conditions in the subcontinent. In the Pacific Ocean where El Niño...