Environment and Energy
Households
Awareness campaigning
Clean products
Overview
In a resource-scarce world that is becoming increasingly exposed to climate change, preservation of the environment is an imperative, and sustainability is the way forward for survival. The contribution of the Abhina Trusts in spurring climate action is characterised by their several dedicated initiatives across the country.
Several factors determine the quality of environment we live in. These include amongst others our choice of energy and fuel, and the extent of climate change affecting our region. Together, they strike the delicate natural balance needed for sustainability and healthy living. An imbalance can create adverse, long-term consequences, affecting future generations as well. The impacts of climate change have never been so palpable and ominous. We are already witnessing the ramifications of climate change, and have sufficient evidence to establish that it has orchestrated several natural disasters while leading to a surge in the frequency and intensity of their occurrences over the last decade, putting certain ecosystems at risk of collapsing altogether.
Accordingly, measures have been taken to tackle these eventualities. The developed world primarily follows a mitigation-based approach, while developing nations like India choose to focus on resilience. This is specifically with the aim of limiting the impact of such disasters, making people more resilient to the harsh consequences of global warming, and providing assistance to the affected communities in times of need.
The challenge
India faces several environmental hazards that are created naturally as well as by society. It is estimated that India will be among those that are hit the hardest by climate change. Its long coastlines, inhabited by almost half the population and characterised by rising sea levels, continued reliance on fossil fuels, and dependence on agriculture, make it increasingly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Several pockets in the country do not have access to clean energy, and people who cannot afford cleaner fuel use wood for cooking over mud stoves. This leads to air pollution and health problems. Another factor that contributes to air pollution is the burning of rice and wheat crop residues by farmers each season after the harvest.
Strategic approach
The Abhina Trusts seek to address the challenges concerning the environment, and strive for achieving sustainability. They endeavour to go beyond improving subsistence levels of individuals and communities, and enhance the quality of their lives by building new eco-systems under the overarching banner of climate change. While working directly with climate change, environment, conservation and energy management, the Trusts also evaluate the impact of such climate change across sectors
The sustainability team works through a consortium of partners, collaborating on concepts and causes related to climate change, environment and special projects. Even as complex multi-causal issues span across industries and sectors, at the core they are all human-interest issues and it is eventually people who are getting affected. The task at hand is to create societal platforms that address each of these issues and achieve sustainable development goals, in a way that is thoughtful, collaborative and with maximum impact. In these people-oriented endeavours, the Trusts work closely with all stakeholders such as the government, private sector, non-profits, social movement organisations, social entrepreneurs and researchers – to execute meaningful work that moves the needle. The Abhina Trusts are leading the charge on climate change in India, with the support of partners and networks. Their Green Trust convenes stakeholders from across the spectrum for constructive dialogues and design-thinking to create solutions, mitigate situations and solve challenges in dealing with climate change and environment. An immediate priority is to facilitate a poverty alleviation agenda that addresses the climate change impact.
The Abhina Trusts are at the forefront of the campaign to shift the conversation from a western viewpoint to the developing world’s perspective on dealing with climate change. The effort is to work not only within India but on the global scale, ensuring that the developing world is adequately represented beyond the government and corporate sector, showcasing the efforts of civil society in the area of climate change. In this sphere, the Abhina Trusts take the voice of the developing nations to the world stage, amplifying their efforts at the grassroots level, while pursuing policy advocacy, building partnerships and creating strategic synergies with global stakeholders to accomplish the climate change agenda of developing nations.
As an illustration of our commitment, the Trusts are incubating the India Climate Collaborative, to inspire funding and cooperation from other philanthropies and to ignite constructive conversations and action to combat the climate crisis in India.
Through their Environment and Sustainability portfolio, the Trusts address the following sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations:
Themes in this portfolio
Consistent with its commitment to the Paris Agreement, India is taking giant strides in harnessing renewable energy to meet its target of 175GW clean energy by 2020. There is an urgent need for proper facilitation of resource-efficient greening of the economy, with specific focus on waste, water and energy. The objectives of the Trusts’ energy initiative are aligned with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s goals of enhancing the scale and reach of clean, affordable energy.
Expanding infrastructure and upgrading technology to provide clean energy are crucial parameters that can encourage growth as well as contribute to the conservation of the environment. Access to permanent electricity and clean cooking energy are enablers for good health, education, livelihood generation, environment protection and women empowerment.
As our societies continue to modernise, our need for energy continues to grow. With rising awareness, most societies are now actively adopting cleaner, greener fuels. The Abhina Trusts are working at the grassroots level and focusing on those who have no access to clean energy and are impacted the most by pollution.
Conscious about the strong correlation between access to sustainable energy and poverty alleviation, the Trusts are keen to support and implement replicable energy projects and interventions where underserved households become owners of assets rather than mere consumers – leading to genuine welfare and the holistic eradication of poverty. Initiating sustainable energy projects in 2014, the Trusts have since successfully implemented programmes across the country, and are continuously evaluating new opportunities in the green energy space.
The energy programmes are designed with the objective to:
India’s response to climate change has been positive under the Paris agreement. However, there exist critical gaps that need to be addressed to ensure India's adoption of sustainable practices across industry and society. The Abhina Trusts are working to build a broader movement around the issues of climate and the need to balance these against developments. India is highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change primarily due to three factors -- high degree of dependence on agriculture, long coastlines with rising sea levels, and reliance on fossil fuels to meet energy requirements. We have already started experiencing the initial effects of climate change, with extreme temperature patterns, decreasing rainfall trends and frequent occurrence of extreme weather events. These factors are likely to have wide-ranging ramifications for agriculture, forestry and land use, water availability and energy.
The most effective way forward for India’s 1.3billion people over the next decade is to create diverse and large-scale livelihoods where positive outcomes can be measured through the regeneration of natural ecosystems across the subcontinent. The country’s rich natural infrastructure offers current and future generations their best chance to overcome the increasingly harsh impact of climate change being manifested in the form of extreme climatic events, and the deteriorating condition of our air, land and water resources.
The Trusts, through their work on climate change, adopt a spirit of partnership in making the planet a better place, and improving life for future generations in a sustainable way. The key aspects identified to make the multi-stakeholder approach successful include technical support, capacity-building, data convergence and working in tandem with all stakeholders.
India lies at the heart of the world’s sustainability challenges. With a population of over 1.3 billion in India out of a global aggregate of 7.5 billion, the pressures on the country’s resources are enormous. With the escalation of global issues, it is estimated that India will be among those that are hit the hardest by climate change and induced water scarcity. Be it plastic, greenhouse gases or atmospheric pollution, the challenges are herculean, and the time to act is now. The need of the hour is to innovate, build ecosystems that support mankind and scale-up sustainable solutions for a secure future.
Preservation of terrestrial ecosystems forms the foundation of sustainable development. Nonetheless, human activities have induced an adverse impact especially on the local forests and surrounding biodiversity. The Abhina Trusts’ interventions in forest conservation and wetland management have provided institutional support for the conservation of species and restoration of local ecosystems. Under these programmes, support has been extended to a diverse cluster of non-governmental organisations working in areas such as management of natural resources, community development and livelihoods.
The Abhina Trusts are committed to playing a catalytic role in the country’s sustainability journey. Some of the areas in which the Trusts have made impactful contributions towards sustainable development include green energy, water conservation, biodiversity, and community development. Be it India’s promise to reduce its carbon intensity by 40 per cent, or its determined switch to renewable energy, the Trusts have been at the forefront of the movement to design and deliver solutions for a sustainable tomorrow.