SEA LEVEL RISE
Rising risks along the coast
A large number of existing and proposed investments along the Tamilnadu coast are at risk from likely changes to sea level in the coming decades. Plans for the future must bear this risk in mind.
Sujatha Byravan
February 2011

CLIMATE TALKS
Capitulation at Cancun
The denouement at Cancun wasn't all that different from Copenhagen. India agreed to take on binding emission cuts, while industrial countries did no more than make sympathetic noises.
December 2010

ENVIRONMENTALISM
How culture counts
The transformation from consumerism to sustainability depends critically on how we change our culture, scientists and philosophers at an annual forum meeting in Italy agreed.
October 2010

THE IPCC
The vilification of Pachauri
The IPCC's working must be streamlined, but to call for Dr Rajendra Pachauri's removal as its head is plainly a vicious personal attack at best.
September 2010

FORCED TO MOVE
Preparing for a tsunami of migration
Adaptation measures in key sectors are needed to improve resilience and reduce the pressure on migration from climate change.
Sujatha Byravan | Displacement
July 2010

CONSTRUCTION
Building green and thinking green
Beyond planting trees, consumers, citizens and businessmen need to be taking directions that lead to the difference we seek in use and abuse of resources.
Energy
May 2010

GLACIERGATE
Climate sceptics get it wrong
Notwithstanding the IPCC's error about glacier melting, there is consensus among scientists that the earth is warming. Those who deny it should offer proof, to the same standard that they demand of others.
January 2010

CLIMATE SUMMIT
India's missteps at Copenhagen
The contrast between the stand taken by India at Copenhagen and at the earlier UN Earth summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 couldn't have been starker.
December 2009

MELTING GLACIERS
Blundering into a Himalayan mistake
Are glaciers in the Himalayas retreating? India depends greatly on these water sources, and we should therefore be more cautious in assessing this risk.
November 2009

CLIMATE TALKS
Need to strengthen climate diplomacy
India is well on its way to a low-carbon economic future, but its global image suffers because we lack the public discourse to bolster our argument.
Energy
October 2009

AIR TRAVEL
Emissions of the rich and famous
In discussions of the travails of the airline industry that have been taking place recently, its detrimental effect on global warming has not come up.
Transport
October 2009

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
Know-how at whose cost?
While the usual debate over responsibility for reducing carbon emissions continues globally, there is also a parallel argument over the need for transfering clean technologies to the developing world.
Waste management | Energy
April 2009

GEO-POLITICS AND TRADE
The world, according to Tom Friedman
"Power to the people" will not be ushered in by the microchip or hydrogen battery, but by a redistribution of wealth. The celebrated New York Times columnist may be misplacing his faith.
Guest opinions
February 2009

CARBON EMISSIONS
Missing the mountain for the snow
The climate system is a global, inter-locking one, and its many facets cannot be considered in isolation. However, this is precisely what the National Action Plan on Climate Change has done, writes Sudhirendar Sharma.
July 2008

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
France eyes India through environment lens
Lagging its northern European neighbours in environmentalism, France is seeking to reposition its strengths in nuclear energy and hydroelectricity, and aid agency is using its grants to help other countries reduce their carbon footprints. Darryl D'Monte reports.
Energy
June 2008

CARBON EMISSIONS
Furore over EU carbon tax plans
The European Union is determined that even as it makes plans to reduce its own carbon emissions, it must act to curb the polluting actions of other countries too. Developing countries, however, see this as an indirect trade restriction, devoid of justice. Darryl D'Monte reports.
May 2008

GOING GREEN
A club for change
US-based environmental group Sierra Club has decided to encourage organisations in India that promote green livelihoods. Can this civil society initiative help the country cut down on its carbon emissions? Darryl D'Monte reports.
Energy
April 2008

GLOBAL WARMING
Alert to the implications of climate change
Even as the IPCC's latest assessment speaks of the need for technocratic solutions to the challenge of global warming, the UN Security Council has signalled that this will be an issue of importance to questions of political stability and peace too. Gopal Krishna reports.
September 2007

GLOBAL WARMING
Pricing carbon correctly
Under the Kyoto Protocol, it is possible for developed countries to simply buy off the cost of their pollution from less developed economies that do not put out their permitted quota of harmful substances into the atmosphere. This mechanism is fraught with both moral and practical difficulties, writes Darryl D'Monte.
Energy
June 2007