Making India's Infrastructure Climate-Ready - What We Can Do

In this article, Shreya Wadhawan and Abinash Mohanty discuss the ways in which India can climate-proof its infrastructures. They feel that any further delay in climate-proofing of infrastructure will further risk lives, livelihood, and economies. Climate-proofing infrastructure against the impacts of changing climate scenarios is vital to prevent decades of development from collapsing.

- Shreya Wadhawan and Abinash Mohanty

India is the third-largest economy in Asia and is projected to be one of the top three economic powers globally over the next 10–15 years. India seeks to invest more than $1.5 trillion to build its infrastructure over the next ten years. India is also urbanizing fast, and hence its urban infrastructure will be pivotal to the economic manifesto. The Government of India has already invested more than $160 billion in creating and upgrading urban infrastructure over the last two decades; meanwhile, investments worth $28 billion are already in the pipeline for projects such as Smart Cities Mission. The numbers are quite promising, but are India’s built-in and planned infrastructures climate ready?