Abstract:

India faces a serious challenge of addressing climate change while meeting its development goals and tackling persistent socio-economic issues such as poverty, inequality, and unemployment. This report adapts the IPCC’s Climate Resilient Development (CRD) framework to the Indian context, offering evidence-based insights to achieve 1.5°C-compatible development that aligns with the country’s sustainable development goals and its economic aspirations.

While CRD articulates a global solution space and outlines feasible adaptation and mitigation options, these need to be tailored to specific national and sub-national contexts. This report synthesises from a wide range of secondary sources to provide the necessary context to operationalise the CRD framework in India. Within the national context, the report undertakes first-of-its kind feasibility assessments of 23 adaptation and 16 mitigation actions across key systems for India. It also analyses synergies and trade-offs between adaptation and mitigation options, and SDGs, and evaluates enabling conditions that can enhance feasible climate action options to accelerate systems transitions. Overall, the report provides a comprehensive solutions framework that can guide climate action policy in India. This framework can support interventions at national and sub-national scales to shape a 1.5°C trajectory towards a resilient and sustainable India.