Since the early '90s, the wind sector has been the flag bearer for renewable energy deployment in India. However, the sector lost momentum in the last decade and has been facing numerous challenges, including reduced availability of land, O&M, and uncertain policies on repowering. While India has an installed capacity of 37.5 GW of wind power, in the last two years only 3.3 GW of projects have been installed for over 12 GW of awarded tenders. This necessitates the urgency to take corrective action to meet our target of 60 GW by 31 December 2022 and beyond.

The webinar will highlight key regulatory and technical roadblocks and solutions to install and integrate more wind energy in the grid.

Held bi-annually, 'On Air' features conversations with scientists, policymakers, researchers, civil society experts, communication specialists, journalists, and on-ground actors, supporting India's transition towards clean air.

In this edition, we will discuss how citizen awareness and engagement could be strengthened to combat air pollution in our cities. We will hear from resident welfare association representatives, school principals, students, environmental lawyers, and journalists, on their understanding of the air pollution crisis and actions needed to solve for it. In addition, since the implementation of clean air plans warrants coordination between multiple agencies, the dialogue will also aim to answer pressing questions on achieving compliance with dispersed accountability.

About the Event

Crop-residue burning remains an important seasonal contributor to air pollution. Crop-residue burning emits particulate matter (both PM10 and PM2.5) and greenhouse gases (GHG), which deteriorates air quality in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Many policies have been mandated in the past few years to address this challenge. Yet, alternative technologies and practices have not been adopted widely, and the practice of burning crop residue persists.

This webinar will discuss the transition in the incidence of crop burning over the years. It will also shed light on the policy interventions in place, as well as farmers’ perspectives based on primary data. We will also deliberate whether this year will witness a spike or decline in crop-residue burning in Punjab and Haryana.

About the Event

Various facets of the mobility landscape in India are undergoing change. India has to simultaneously juggle the need to meet basic accessibility needs for large swathes of the population while accommodating new paradigms such as electric and shared mobility that are gaining traction globally. The infrastructure needed to support non-motorised transport and adequate availability of public transit options continue to remain a challenge. Urban transport planning and governance are points of intervention to address these needs. The recent amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act and subsequent reaction from various quarters is a testimony to the challenges in reforming governance around transport.

At the same time, the auto-industry in India has to increasingly cater to fuel-efficiency and emissions norms being stipulated. The same factors driving a push for curtailing pollution from vehicles have culminated in a debate for an electric vehicle (EV) transition in India. However, switching to EV manufacturing has implications to the value-addition and jobs supported while also creating new opportunities for the sector. The optimal pace of such a transition and the enabling policy and market environment needed for it are yet to be detailed.

The dialogue will bring together policymakers, industry representatives, and researchers to discuss urban mobility and auto-industry transitions in tandem. CEEW’s recent studies on ‘Perceptions on Clean Transport and Sustainable Mobility in Urban India’ and ‘Electric Vehicle Transition in India: Opportunities, Challenges and the EV Ecosystem’ that have explored these themes will be launched at the dialogue, adding context to the deliberations.

View photos here.