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Understanding institutional settings and governance processes is critical to the effective delivery of climate technology solutions for low-carbon and climate-resilient development in Asian cities. Creating the appropriate enabling environment for the development and transfer of climate technologies becomes imperative in this context. This requires...

The International Energy Agency estimates that to hit net-zero globally by 2050, six times more critical minerals will be required in 2040 than today. The rapid increase in demand for critical minerals is likely to increase price volatility. This could aggravate energy security concerns, and thereby delay the necessary clean energy transition...

To monitor the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), India, during the last week of March 2020, imposed national restrictions on the movement of its citizens (lockdown). Although India’s economy was shut down due to restrictions, the nation observed a sharp decline in particulate matter (PM) concentrations. In recent years, Delhi has...

Manufacturing and mining sectors are serious pollution sources and risk factors that threaten air quality and human health. We analyzed pollutants at two study sites (Talcher and Brajrajnagar) in Odisha, an area exposed to industrial emissions, in the pre-COVID-19 year (2019) and consecutive pandemic years, including lockdowns (2020 and 2021). We...

The study evaluates the impacts of India’s COVID-19 lockdown and unlocking periods on the country’s ambient air quality. India experienced three strictly enforced lockdowns followed by unlocking periods where economic and social restrictions were gradually lifted. We have examined the in situ and satellite data of NO2 emissions for several Indian...

The IPCC Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report addresses the challenges of climate action in the context of sustainable development with a particular focus on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Since IPCC AR5, human influence on the Earth’s climate has become unequivocal, increasingly apparent, and...

Between the 1990s and early 2000s, large-scale illegal dumping and improper treatment of medical waste was a common occurrence in Japan, and became a serious social issue owing to the potential human health risk and environmental damage resulting from the waste itself, which could be infectious or contained sharps or chemical and toxic substances...

Intensifying ecological crises, such as climate change, the melting Arctic, and uncontrolled destruction of habitat and biodiversity, are increasingly exposing the shortcomings of resource-intensive development models. One of the concepts helping policymakers steer a course change is sustainable consumption production and consumption (SCP). A...

This report analyses and compares the low carbon city policies and practices of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, with the goal of identifying sector-specific and city-specific good practices that may be instructive to researchers and policymakers in the wider NEA region. It examines key national-level carbon mitigation policies and sector...

The widespread adoption of low emissions technologies in rapidly developing countries is critical to resolving the climate emergency.1 However, many fast growing economies lack the energy efficient, renewable, and other advanced technologies needed to mitigate climate change. Technology transfer could help address these countries need. Yet the...