Some of the earlier posts here have discussed the rising temperatures in Indian cities, the imminent heatwave conditions (particularly at 2ºC global warming), and the Urban Heat Island effect. The recent IPCC Report strongly recommends that policy-making be geared towards limiting global warming to 1.5ºC – an uphill task for Indian policy-makers, considering the Indian […]
The impact of food systems on climate change forms the focus of a recent article in Nature. The study considers the diverse environmental effects of different food systems: for example, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, pressures on croplands, use of freshwater and groundwater resources, and the impact of phosphorous and nitrogen from fertilizers. The discussion is set within […]
The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) released its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C last week, and it paints a bleak picture. First, it highlights the devastating consequences of failing to curtail global warming to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels, and the grave impact of the additional 0.5ºC above this threshold. And second, it […]
This year, the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences was awarded jointly to William Nordhaus of Yale University and Paul Romer of NYU Stern School of Business. Past Nobel laureates in this category include John Nash, Amartya Sen and Elinor Ostrom. Last year, the Nobel was awarded to Richard Thaler for his work in the field […]
One of the terms that has entered the climate change narrative is “Urban Heat Island” or UHI, which refers to the heat accumulation phenomenon arising from urban construction and human activities. UHIs are defined as “those urban areas where the surface, sub-surface or air temperatures are higher than the corresponding temperatures in surrounding rural areas“. […]
The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has now released its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC. An earlier post on this blog provided a brief background of the context in which this report was written. In a nutshell The Special Report paints a grim picture. First, it highlights the consequences of failing to […]
The Special Report of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which will be released tomorrow, is a document that has been anxiously awaited by the global community. Paris Agreement Goals The Paris Agreement signed in 2015 is the definitive global instrument concerning climate change. Article 2(1)(a) of the Paris Agreement, 2015 sets out one […]
Ride-hailing apps offer a certain ease of transportation, but this convenience imposes an externality on the environment and the roads, which are public goods. A negative externality is a situation where a commercial activity imposes a cost on third parties, and where this social cost is not accounted for in the price of the good […]
The Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing in the United Kingdom released a report recently, which contained recommendations on regulating the taxi industry. One of the recommendations of the Group pertained to a potential upper limit on the number of taxis licensed to operate: “Government should legislate to allow local […]
Google recently announced that it will release city-specific emission data in the public domain. The data will help identify the source of emissions and also enable governments to structure regulatory measures to deal with them. This is the first time that Google will be sharing aggregate transportation data (e.g. the driving, biking and transit ridership) […]
India Environment Blog 