New Delhi: With India standing on the brink of a climate crisis as one of the world’s most vulnerable nations, the discourse on tackling the issue is being increasingly propelled by a range of policy and research institutes.
These Indian think tanks are now offering government, industry, and the public-at-large the information they need to forge a path ahead. Some are also rolling up their sleeves and getting involved in developing implementation models for the state governments.
Today, this ecosystem of climate change think tanks is experiencing remarkable growth in size as well as funding.
Its rise has also coincided with the unprecedented increase in the number of think tanks in India in recent years – from just under 300 in 2015 to 612 in 2020.
“It is the think tanks that brought the concept of climate change to India,” says Ajay Mathur, director general of the International Solar Alliance, an intergovernmental organisation launched in 2015 by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then France PM Francois Hollande.
Mathur was the former chief of The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) — the venerable old think tank that held India’s first conference on climate change in 1989. However, he says Indian climate think tanks have come into their own only over the last 15 years or so.
“Earlier, foreign think tanks would inform the discourse and try to influence India’s position. It was really after 2008 that several homegrown think tanks oriented towards climate change research began to establish,” he says.
That year, then-PM Manmohan Singh launched the National Action Plan on Climate Change, which outlined a strategy for India to adapt to climate change and stay on an ecologically sustainable development path.
A year later, in 2009, the global Copenhagen Accord acknowledged the need for “deep cuts in global emissions”.
“There are a number of ways in which think tanks could step in to help. You don’t have the ability to do a deep dive in government because administrative work occupies you so much. So, you might ask for a paper or specific research,” says Shyam Saran, former Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Nuclear Affairs and Climate Change. “But it also depends on who is in the ministries, how open they are to those inputs, and whether they think it’s worthwhile.”
From non-sewered sanitation to decentralised solar power, from the gaps in the banking sector to inventorying solid waste, think tanks are designing India’s future in an altered climate — and warning of what awaits if we don’t act now.
ThePrint focuses into the workings of over 10 powerful and rising think tanks to lay out the expanding canvas of climate conversations in the country.
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When CEEW talks, govts pay heed
Full name: Council on Energy, Environment and Water
Established: 2010
Headed by: Arunabha Ghosh, founder & CEO
USP: One of the most authoritative voices shaping climate change & energy discourse in India
If there’s any think tank whose work commands the Modi government’s attention on climate and energy policy matters, it’s CEEW.
From Shivshankar Menon to Nitin Gadkari, ministers and important dignitaries have routinely launched or spoken at CEEW’s report releases.
A month before Modi announced India’s net-zero target at the Glasgow COP26 in 2021, CEEW published a paper outlining various scenarios to achieve net-zero emissions. One of the scenarios modelled peaking emissions by 2040 and achieving net-zero by 2070 — the government’s chosen timeline.
But Ghosh dismisses the perception that CEEW influenced the government’s net-zero decision.
“The net zero decision is a decision of the government. Our work on net-zero started long ago, not just around the COP26 negotiations. We have done multiple studies on low-carbon pathways, on fuel types. A lot of the scenarios in our analysis were things we had already been doing,” Ghosh says.
He does, however, add that CEEW had done things differently, and first.
“Ours was the first study to take net-zero scenarios beyond 2050. That’s what we did differently, and perhaps we were able to do it in a way that others could not,” he says.
“We were also among the first to look at hydrogen as an alternative fuel in 2016, when no one else was talking about it,” Ghosh adds.
Today, 12 years after first writing about how India should leverage platforms like the G20, Ghosh is part of the G20s Finance Track Advisory Group.
Last year, he was appointed by UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres to an international expert group tasked with finding ways to hold non-state actors, like businesses, accountable for their net-zero announcements.
CEEW has worked on over 300 research projects, published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, and engaged with governments around the world over 800 times.
Last July, it signed an MoU with the Yogi Adityanath government’s Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission (UPSRLM) to promote energy efficiency and women’s empowerment.
In 2018, CEEW released India’slargest primary data set on energy access along with the National University of Singapore and the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP).
Ghosh credits an approach called the “Arc of Learning” for CEEW’s track record. This seven-step process starts with “identifying” a research question and ends with “reflecting” on actions taken. It also prioritises data-driven research and analysis.
“We look at the issues that are important for us to work on within our strategic plan, which develops every few years,” Ghosh says. “We’re trying to look at what’s emerging from the horizon. We ask the big questions. What follows will always be relevant at some point.”
iFOREST—environment as ‘thriving economic sector’
Full name: International Forum for Environment, Sustainability & Technology
Established: 2019
Headed by: Chandra Bhushan, founder-CEO
USP: One of India’s specialists in ‘just transition’ to a low-carbon economy
When Chandra Bhushan quit his 20-year job as the deputy head of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), he wanted to take research beyond the big cities.
“I realised that to have an impact on the ground, we have to move out of Delhi,” he says flatly. “I wanted to build an organisation to work at a regional and state level to widen the environmental discourse.”
Today, his organisation has a small office near Delhi’s Connaught Place where about 30 full-time staff work. But Bhushan insists the real work happens in the states where iFOREST operates — Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh.
An iFOREST study showing a potential of 170 GW in Odisha prompted the state government to reconsider its renewable energy policy, Bhushan says. Previously, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had assessed Odisha’s energy capacity as not exceeding 25.78 gigawatts.
One of the newest think tanks on the block, iFOREST is also a leader in the discourse on ‘just transitions’, promoting an inclusive shift from coal to renewable energy, leaving no one behind.
At the India Habitat Centre this March, iFOREST kicked off the ‘Global Just Transition Dialogue’ and unveiled two papers on the subject.
The two-day talks were part of Think20, the official engagement group that serves as an “idea bank” for G20.
‘Just transition’ is a key issue for the Indian government. The country pledged to “phase down” coal at COP26 in 2021, but has resisted joining the Just Transition Energy Partnership, an agreement funded by western countries to phase out coal quickly, due to its reliance on coal and concerns about loan-based funding.
In 2021, iFOREST also started the ‘India Just Transition Centre,’ which endeavours to “build the just transition discourse in India.
Bhushan argues that viewing environmental issues through the lens of job creation and economic prosperity is necessary to build state capacity.
He points to an iFOREST study on the number of jobs required to actually manage India’s air quality— roughly two million.
iFOREST has also developed a methodology to inventorise municipal solid waste. “We did it based on research from 20 cities in 13 states. We’ve submitted our findings to the CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board). If they accept it, it could become India’s first index for solid waste,” Bhushan says.
CSEP— economics of sustainability
Full name: Centre for Social and Economic Progress, previously Brookings India
Established: 2013; climate change vertical set up 2.5 years ago
Headed by: Laveesh Bhandari, president
USP: Examining environmental sustainability through lens of economic viability
CSEP has been a leading think tank on foreign policy and development for a long time. Now, it also has a dedicated climate vertical.
This decision was motivated by the need to tie the think tank’s existing research areas — like economic growth and energy — to the climate crisis, says CSEP president Laveesh Bhandari, who heads the climate change arm.
“This vertical is looking at how the government would need to change its actions to transition away from fossil fuels, what kind of investments are required, how the economy can absorb those investments,” Bhandari says.
His team is approaching these questions by building large-scale models that integrate India’s economy and the likely effects of climate change on the subcontinent.
CSEP’s climate change division includes several heavyweights, including former Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwahlia.
Last October, Ahluwalia was appointed as a member of the Tamil Nadu Governing Council on Climate Change. Led by Chief Minister MK Stalin, the council provides policy directives to the state’s climate change mission.
The think tank has published an array of papers, with subjects from electricity prices to agriculture in the context of climate change.
In July 2022, Bhandari and associate fellow Aasheerwad Dwivedi presented their paper ‘India’s Energy and Fiscal Transition’ to the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). The study examined the impact of the economy’s transition on government revenues from fossil fuels in the next two decades.
Bhandari claims CSEP’s research agenda is driven entirely by the researcher.
“We come up with a research question and then look for whether funding is available for that question. It’s never the other way around,” he says. “It makes our job much more difficult in accessing funds. But our research is far more true to the problem.”
Climate Risk Horizons — strength in numbers
Established: 2020
Headed by: Ashish Fernandes, CEO
USP: Doing deep, numerical analyses of financial benefits & risks associated with energy transition
Bengaluru-based Climate Risk Horizons believes that “financial stability is dependent on ecosystem stability”, and it has already published over 10 pieces of literature in line with this message.
“No one else is looking at that, and so we are filling that gap,” says Fernandes, who splits his time between India and the US.
The think tank has two focus areas, he adds.
The first is analysing the risks faced by financial institutions due to climate change — “both in terms of physical risks, but also from a failure to adapt to transitions that will happen”.
The second is examining the “financial and economic benefits” arising from the energy transition, in the long, medium, and short term.
Last March, Climate Risk Horizons analysed the climate-preparedness of 34 of India’s biggest commercial banks, and found all lagged on this front.
The study, the first of its kind in India, shed light on the climate risks confronting the banking sector and the ripple effects it could have on the economy. An update of this study is currently in the works, and a similar one on asset managers is underway.
Other studies highlight the financial benefits of repurposing coal power plants in certain states and accelerating the shift to renewables in others.
“These studies look very specifically at the financial benefit to the state DISCOMs of phasing out some — and I would emphasise some — older and more expensive coal power plants. And then, by extrapolation from the DISCOM, assess benefits to consumers and the government,” Fernandes explains.
#NewRelease | Dec 2022, @CMOKerala announced #kerala aspires to be 100% RE by 2040 & carbon neutral by 2050. First step is to replace expensive #coal power purchases that are driving #electricity costs higher with cheaper #RenewableEnergy. New analysis shows it can be done. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/s5OMzp2vMn
— Climate Risk Horizons (@ClimateHorizons) June 9, 2023
Currently, there are about 10 full-timers at Climate Risk Horizons, primarily researchers.
“We’re not interested in just growing and becoming big for the sake of it. It’s really about how effective we can be,” Fernandes says. “If there’s a gap we feel we can plug, then we will grow into that area.”
CSTEP— ‘Impact’ through tech
Full name: Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy
Established: 2005
Headed by: Jai Asundi, executive director
USP: Using science and technology to enhance policymaking
Earlier, the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) was content with putting out good research papers. But today, it prioritises making impactful interventions with measurable outcomes, says Asundi.
Based out of both Delhi and Bengaluru, CSTEP’s core areas include artificial intelligence, and computational tool design.
Its SAFARI (Sustainable Alternative Futures for India) modelling tool was used by an expert committee of the NITI Aayog in its ‘Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India 2020–25’, released in 2021.
CSTEP developed SAFARI as a tool for decision-makers, using sophisticated “system dynamics simulation modelling”. It does not use GDP as its main metric for development, but instead factors in food, power, healthcare, and so on. It also estimates the energy required to meet such goals, while controlling emissions.
“We are trying to get more and more people to use SAFARI,” says Asundi, adding that CSTEP is providing inputs to government ministries using this model.
“It doesn’t replace old models, but provides new insights and a new way of thinking that augments what we have already been doing,” he says.
CSTEP collaborates closely with the Karnataka government, having served as a ‘technical resource institution’ for it in 2018. It has conducted studies to assist the government in sustainable city planning, including establishing a digital urban observatory to collect geo-spatial data on noise pollution and urban growth. This data aids the government in identifying areas for policy interventions.
“The traditional way of measuring impact is to put out publications… But we’re trying to change that approach,” Asundi says
CSTEP has now put in place a “five-tiered” system to measure the effectiveness of its work. These tiers are peer acknowledgment, endorsement from public entities/authorities, piloting projects, large-scale implementation, and long-term monitoring to assess results.
Some of CSTEP’s work has reached “level four impact”, or implementation at a state- or region-wide level. This includes a tool to assess rooftop energy potential, launched in MP this year.
Measuring “level five impact”, or long-term results, is still a while away, Asundi says.
#CSTEP is happy to announce the launch of the #MadhyaPradesh #Rooftop #Solar Explorer, a revolutionary platform that aims to bring #SolarPower to the rooftops in #MP! Don't miss the opportunity to witness the future of #RenewableEnergy!@sap_sustained @shaan23171 pic.twitter.com/2wwEpE8ffl
— CSTEP (@CSTEP_India) March 8, 2023
ACPET— bridge between 3 worlds
Full name: Ashoka Centre for a People-centric Energy Transition
Established: March 2023
Headed by: Leena Srivastava, director
USP: Bringing academia, industry, & government together
Ashoka University’s newly launched ACPET is poised to put out its first publication in October — an ambitious draft Integrated Energy Policy for India.
Although few details are available, it is likely to bring together policies across energy efficiency, cooling technologies, carbon markets, and green hydrogen.
“At the moment, policies for coal are different from solar, which are different from wind and so on,” explains ACPET’s first interim CEO Mahua Acharya, who formerly led the state-owned Convergence Energy Services Limited. “The difference in treatment to these policies is fine, but they lack integration. And we need to do this now, as renewable energy scales up.”
Acharya envisions ACPET as a platform that will put academia, industry, and government together for research collaboration.
“There’s a gap when it comes to discourse that brings these three stakeholders together. We’d like to build that culture,” she says.
Set up with a corpus from domestic donors, ACPET will focus on three main areas — decarbonisation, net zero emissions, and energy finance, especially attracting domestic and international capital to India’s energy sector.
WRI—Sustainable cities
Full name: World Resources Institute-India
Established: 2008
Headed by: Madhav Pai, CEO
USP: Helping govts integrate urban development with climate goals.
WRI India has been all about sustainable cities ever since it set up shop. While it’s “associated with” the US-based WRI, the think tank functions independently.
“At first, we were working a lot on urban mobility,” says Madhav Pai, CEO of WRI India.
He adds this was around the time that the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission was being implemented after its 2005 launch. WRI’s work included supporting clean cities such as Indore and Ahmedabad and assisting city bus agencies with technology use and planning.
WRI works with all levels of government in several states.
For instance, it signed an MoU with Bengaluru’s municipal corporation in March to make 75 city junctions safer for pedestrians.
Last year, a study it conducted for the Tamil Nadu government found that the state could cut a third of its emissions if 60 per cent of its renewable energy capacity was integrated into its energy mix.
“We’re a small cog in the wheel, but it’s important to make choices based on where we feel our inputs will make a difference,” Pai says.
“It’s for us to make recommendations, and the other thing is for them to get implemented. The biggest role for organisations like ours is to create that expertise and experience in the ecosystem.”
CPR-ICEE—‘Thorough and critical’
Full name: Centre for Policy Research-Initiative on Climate Environment and Energy
Established: 2009
Headed by: Navroz Dubash
USP: Driving discourse and research to enhance climate, energy, and environmental governance in India.
When the foreign funding licence for the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) was abruptly suspended earlier this year, outpourings of support came in from across the world.
CPR was set up in 1973, but its climate wing is much younger. It’s led by scholar Navroz Dubash, a two-time author on the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the editor of the Handbook of Climate Change and India, something of a classic in its niche.
Dubash likes to think of CPR-ICEE’s work as “agenda setting”.
“We spend a lot of time on framing and narrative-setting of a particular problem. Then we come up with agenda-setting ideas on how to address the problem,” he says.
“We’re not rushing to be the first to come up with this study or that. We’re very deliberative when trying to understand a problem, and sometimes that approach has led to certain ideas becoming conventional wisdom, he says. “For example, we have tried to seed the ideas of climate co-benefits, an air-shed approach to air pollution, and the benefits of climate law tailored to India.”
This year, the think tank published an assessment highlighting specific gaps in the heat action plans of various states, cities, and districts. It caught the attention of the National Disaster Management Authority, which is currently formulating a national heatwave framework.
Another series of working papers last year looked at the health and financial integrity of pollution control boards in 10 crucial states.
The objective of such research, Dubash says, is to demonstrate that targets cannot be achieved without robust supporting institutions.
Last year, CPR-ICEE provided the government with technical knowledge to draft its Long Term Low Emissions Development Strategy (LT-LEDS). This blueprint for net-zero emissions was released at the Sharm el-Sheikh COP27 by environment minister Bhupender Yadav.
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CSE—‘Walking alone’
Full name: Centre for Science and Environment
Established: 1980
Headed by: Sunita Narain, director-general
USP: Public interest research & advocacy for sustainable, equitable development
Sunita Narain, the director general of CSE for the past 23 years, says she is glad to see so much young blood in the climate sector. “Today, there are a million flowers blooming. When we started, that wasn’t the case,” she acknowledges.
However, Narain suggests that complacency is not an option. “We have to keep at it,” she emphasises.
Between 2021 and 2022, CSE released 95 publications, many of which received endorsement or support from governments.
In 2021, NITI Aayog collaborated with CSE to produce a report documenting the best practices in solid waste management for cities and municipalities. Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav unveiled CSE’s flagship ‘State of Environment’ report that year.
CSE stands out due to its unique research approach, which involves both researchers and journalists from its publication, Down To Earth. The think tank adopts a more adversarial tone compared to other organisations, with a focus on advocacy and capacity-building.
CSE’s work has gained international recognition, topping the list of environmental think tanks in emerging economies in 2017.
In 2020, Narain was honoured with the Edinburgh Medal for her “strong leadership in championing climate justice for the poor and disenfranchised”.
However, staying ahead in a rapidly expanding field is a challenge. CSE has maintained a similar workforce size of approximately 200 people for the past two decades, and invitations to join expert panels and government committees have decreased.
Narain isn’t fazed. “Being on a committee isn’t something I particularly value. We are an organisation of ideas. We are used to walking alone because what we say is often inconvenient,” she explains.
Currently, Narain is excited about the concept of non-sewered sanitation, such as composting toilets. “Can you imagine that?” she exclaims, and notes that this “unfashionable” idea is slowly gaining momentum.
Narain asserts that often the think tank’s unpopular opinions have found acceptance later.
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TERI— the grande dame
Full name: The Energy and Resources Institute
Established: 1974
Headed by: Vibha Dhawan, director-general
USP: Veteran of research, consultancy, & implementation in energy, environment, climate change, sustainability.
Running into an ex-TERI member is a common occurrence during any training session or meeting, director general Vibha Dhawan says with a smile.
She is “proud” of the accomplishments of former colleagues who have assumed decision-making roles in other institutions. They continue to carry TERI’s legacy, she says.
In March, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated TERI’s National Centre of Excellence in Green Port and Shipping, a collaborative effort with the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways. This initiative aims to achieve carbon neutrality in the shipping sector. The centre has already taken on 10 projects, including research on blending biofuels with conventional marine fuels to reduce emissions.
TERI’s World Sustainable Development Summit in February featured high-profile speakers, including Sultan Al Jaber, the president of COP28.
TERI’s expertise extends to consultancy services through its Council for Business Sustainability, which provides tailored consultancy services to its 100+ members, offering them a platform for policy advocacy at a cost. Notable members of the council include Dalmia Cement, Tata Chemicals, and Air India.
For years, TERI was the sole organisation in India with extensive knowledge in climate change, and its influence has reached a global scale. Former director general R.K. Pachauri chaired the IPCC for over a decade, during which it was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2007.
According to Dhawan, most of TERI’s funding is project-driven. She expresses hope that the think tank will have more opportunities to conduct research on green hydrogen and corporate ESG reporting.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
This is the first article of a two-part series. The second article will cover India’s climate change philanthropists.