Articles & Op-Eds

Singapore is the world’s foremost city in rainwater harvesting. It gets abundant rainfall, about 2400 mm/year, but has very small landmass to harvest rainwater.

The world has given its assent to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Countries used words such as ‘strong’ ‘durable’, ‘dynamic’ to describe the agreement. India hailed the adoption as a “historic day” which promised a “better future” and created a “chapter of hope” in the lives of 7 billion [...]

Bihar alone is not suffering because of searing temperatures. Over the past month, parts of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Telangana, and Maharashtra have witnessed record temperatures.

It is in the interest of the consumers, the food industry and the nation that the dangers of junk food are disclosed and widely disseminated

India produces about 60 million tonnes of waste annually, of which only about 25 per cent is processed, and the rest is dumped or burned in open areas.

Demand-side regulations like mandating a certain percentage of building materials from fly ash in the building by-laws of cities could go a long way in increasing the utilisation of fly ash.

Scotland has already declared a climate emergency and is setting targets to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions to net-zero by 2045.

The recent draft notification on utilisation of fly ash for making bricks is poorly designed and, if implemented, will shut down the construction industry.

On climate change, the Congress has used all the right words and promised an action agenda to combat global warming. The BJP, on the other hand, is largely silent on the issue of climate change apart from the promise of achieving the goal of 175 GW renewable energy by 2022.

UNFCCC doesn’t have the tools to drive global collective action to combat climate change; we need new platforms and ideas to drive transformation

Sweeping waste under the carpet is a myopic waste management approach—sustained efforts are required, and it is this that the survekshan should rank in the future.

WTE plants have a role, but not in the way our planners are envisaging. They should be the last resort to manage high-calorific-value waste that cannot be managed by other technologies.