At the National Disaster Management Authority’s international workshop on heatwaves 2025, Tamanna Dalal discussed how India can leverage Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) to fund heat action plans. Drawing from her previous work, she highlighted that 16 CSSs are directly linked to heat action solutions, such as creating shade, ensuring water supply, and supporting rainwater harvesting.

Aditya Valiathan Pillai spoke at the National Disaster Management Authority’s international workshop on heatwaves 2025 in New Delhi on 13-14 February. He addressed the question: Is India ready for a 1.5°C world? He emphasised the need for structural change in heatwave management, pointing out that city planners often neglect to include heat in their planning, instead treating it as a risk for health and disaster management to address once a heatwave hits.

“Adaptation finance will be of limited use in reducing vulnerability until we build an institutional structure and political conditions that know how to deploy it correctly. Prior conditions to adaptation finance need to be met if the objective is to save lives.” Aditya Valiathan Pillai at a discussion on ‘Climate challenges & opportunities’ by the Global Centre for Environment and Energy on 16 December 2024.

“Adapting to climate change means not just addressing the immediate impacts of a climate disaster but planning to address those we haven’t even foreseen the scale of yet–intense and long heatwaves, storm surges, or sea level rises” – Bhargav Krishna at a webinar on ‘Climate Change: South Asia’s Biggest Threat?’ organised by The Democracy Forum. Watch the entire conversation here.

“To effectively address future heat waves, heat action plans must be tailored to local contexts, prioritize the most vulnerable, and ensure sustainable, long-term funding.” – Tamanna Dalal during the discussion on ‘Piecing Together a Heat Action Plan: What’s Needed and What’s Often Left Out?’ at the Heat Rising Convening, organised by Wipro Foundation, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment and Azim Premji University.

At a training workshop on heat action plans for Rajasthan’s government officials and health experts, organised by NRDC and NDMA in October, Tamanna Dalal discussed gaps in India’s response to extreme heat. She highlighted the need to leverage centrally sponsored schemes such as MGNREGA and Nagar Van Yojana to finance the implementation of the heat action plan.

Aman Srivastava moderated a discussion on ‘Policy Frameworks for Supporting Carbon Dioxide Removal’ with RR Rashmi, Distinguished Fellow, TERI, and Rathin Roy, Former Economic Advisor – PMO, organised by Alt Carbon on 16 October 2024. They discussed the policy actions India needs to undertake to scale carbon removal efforts & make our climate finance frameworks more robust.