Public Engagement

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As Indian Cities Struggle to Plan for Heat, the Most Vulnerable Suffer

Dialogue Earth | 8 April 2026

Bhargav Krishna spoke to Dialogue Earth – “The materials a home is built with determine a resident’s ability to cope with heat. You might work in a covered space, but if it’s poorly insulated, and you return to a house made of heat-trapping materials with no ventilation, you don’t recover at night”.

As the Effects of Rising Summer Heat Get Worse, Indian Women Street Vendors are Paying a Heavy Economic Price

Live Mint | 22 April 2026

Aditya Valiathan Pillai says it is “important” to address heat as a cross-sectoral issue, including its economic implications, rather than viewing it solely as a health issue. “It is important that we take the heat debate out of just a conversation on health and broaden it to include how extreme heat is impacting health, livelihoods and well-being in general. The economic threat is driving the health threat and vice-versa,” he adds.

What does India’s new Paris Agreement pledge mean for climate action?

Carbon Brief | 27 March 2026

Navroz K Dubash told Carbon Brief that India’s new pledge falls into an “ongoing pattern” of NDCs that “under-commit and will overcomply”, a description he says also fits China’s recent pledge. He elaborated: “This pattern suggests that statements of ambition are no longer the driver of climate action, if indeed they ever were. Instead, indications of implementation on the ground – real domestic policy and investment trends – are the more useful benchmark of progress.”

India Raises Climate Ambition, Targets 60% Clean Power by 2035

AFP | 25 March 2026

“The emissions intensity target represents a very modest increase compared with its potential. While India may well reach beyond this level, the target will further erode trust in multilateral negotiations. The pledge to increase renewables capacity is more significant and welcome, but this will only translate to real impact through greater generation shares” – Aman Srivastava told AFP.

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Speaking engagements

The South Asia Hub of the Global Heat Health Information Network was formally launched at the NRDC Global Heat and Cooling Forum in New Delhi on 21 April 2026. It aims to connect local actors to inform policy, implement practical interventions, and reduce heat risks, particularly for vulnerable populations. At the launch, Bhargav Krishna underscored a critical gap as well as an opportunity in how we respond to extreme heat. He emphasised the need to deepen our focus on epidemiological, or health-specific heat thresholds, while bridging two essential priorities: advancing rigorous science and ensuring it meaningfully informs policy. “At the same time, progress cannot be measured by data alone. It must remain grounded in people’s lived realities, livelihoods, and well-being. This is the space we hope to build through the South Asia Hub: where science and policy come together, without losing sight of those most affected,” he said. The hub is being hosted at Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) with partners – SFC, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, and UNESCAP.

Mukta Naik moderated the panel ‘Policy Takeaways’ at the event, ‘Climate Justice for Home-Based Workers: Voices, Evidence, and Action’ organised by WIEGO and SEWA Delhi on 23 March 2026. She spoke on the importance of workers’ voices, especially home-based workers who are often invisible, in policymaking because heat impacts are very varied. Mukta also emphasised the need for robust data about how workers experience heat, its impacts on their household decisions, including on education and health, that influence vital human development outcomes, and what kind of interventions are beneficial to them.

Mukta Naik spoke at the launch of the book, ‘City Limits: The Crisis of Urbanisation’, edited by Tikender Panwar on 17 March 2026 – “City Limits reminds us that the work of challenging dominant paradigms of city-making is important and must go on, whether through data-informed critique, the articulation of hopeful imaginations or the exploration of new ideas and solutions”. In a climate-impacted world, it is especially important to listen to marginalised communities and find pathways towards inclusive urbanisation, she added.

Dr Purvi Patel spoke about how a shift toward health-centric governance is critical to deal with climate impacts, including those linking nutrition and agriculture, during the roundtable on ‘Science to Policy Translation for Future-Ready Food Systems’, moderated by ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, at the Public Policy Dialogue from March 20-22, 2026, organised by the Indian School of Business. “Using population nutrition to guide food system and agricultural reform make policies more accountable and health outcome-oriented. Integrating nutrition-related data from various health programmes with climate-related data systems can bring together fragmented health data, set clear baselines, enable monitoring of key indicators, guide agricultural adaptation and help develop an joint early warning system”, she said. “Embedding nutrition-focused health outcomes and actions within the National Adaptation Plan and the National Programme on Climate Change and Human Health offers immediate entry points to operationalise this,” she added.

Aman Srivastava highlighted the impact of climate regulations on export competitiveness for developing nations, in the panel, “𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦: 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐍𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞–𝐄𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐬?, examining whether new environmental standards, such as carbon border adjustments, signify genuine climate action or veiled protectionism. He was joined by Professors Meeta Keswani Mehra and Aparna Sawhney from Jawaharlal Nehru University. The discussion was part of the 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞, 𝐄𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞 2026 organised by the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, on 14 March. The forum addressed concerns over the fragmentation of the post-Cold War trade framework influenced by geopolitical and climate developments.

“We (at SFC) went to nine states and tried understanding what local implementers are doing at the local level. We were quite happy to find that there are lots of emergency measures that are put in place during the summer. What was missing was the long-term resilience. One thing that’s been really heartening to see at the NDMA is the focus on mitigation aspects over the last two years, and we’re close to coming up with a national framework for mitigation actions that will lay out the range of actions states can take and possibly lay out specific funding for long-term heat resilience that is not short-term disaster-oriented”. Aditya Valiathan Pillai spoke at the International Workshop on Heatwaves 2026, titled, “Strengthening Preparedness, Resilience and Risk Governance” on 11-12 February 2026, organised by the National Disaster Management Authority.

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