Kundan Pandey

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Solar water pumps in Nepal. Representative image by Prabuddha Raj via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Running on sunshine but running out of water

Hanan Zaffar, Jyoti Thakur 19 Jun 2025
Aerial view of sand mining. The Supreme Court’s verdict striking down the 2017 and 2021 amnesties for environmental violations has significant legal and commercial implications for companies and infrastructure projects. Image by Saiphani02 via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-4.0).

Upholding the law, Supreme Court halts amnesties for EIA violators, jolts industry

Akshay Deshmane 10 Jun 2025
General view of the motorcoach ready for service — First GIPR EMU, 1924. Image courtesy of Central Railway.

The railway journey to net zero began a century ago, but coal slows it down

Esha Lohia 6 Jun 2025
Zaida Zehra with her daughter looking at Hauz-i-Shamsi, their urban common.

From decay to delight as locals bring an urban waterbody back to life

Nidhi Jamwal 3 Jun 2025
A thermal power plant in Nagpur. The draft taxonomy calls for strategic investments in Advanced Ultra Super Critical plants to improve efficiency. Image by Yann Forget via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-4.0)

Coal’s inclusion in India’s draft climate finance taxonomy raises questions

Kundan Pandey 30 May 2025
Kanhai Prasad, a farmer in Charai village, secures a mesh netting to protect his crops. "All night you can hear tractors roaring from the forest edge, blasting loud music and crushing stone,” he said. Image by Ashwini Kumar Shukla/Mongabay.

Stone crushers drive nilgai into fields, damaging crops

Ashwini Kumar Shukla 29 May 2025
A Liberian-flagged ship sank off the Kochi coast on May 25. Image courtesy: Ministry of Defence, Government of India via X.

Shipwreck raises concerns about ecological damage in Kerala

Navya P.K. 29 May 2025
A thermal power station in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh. Image by Jay.Jarosz via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Blended finance can help power India’s climate future [Commentary]

Suresh Seshadri 28 May 2025
Mango trees planted in Bagepalli, Karnataka. Based on five tree-planting projects across 21,767 farmer plots, tree cover increased by 48% in participating plots compared to a 26% increase in non-participating plots. Image by Shivani Agarwal.

Community buy-in, economic gains drive voluntary carbon market success

Sharmila Vaidyanathan 23 May 2025
A deserted and inundated metro station in Kochi during the 2018 Kerala floods. Image by Dil Shad Roshan via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Limited climate finance shifts focus on startups and local innovation

Navya P.K. 9 May 2025
Rainfall in Kerala. The convergence of neutral ENSO conditions, active internal dynamics, and warming seas points to a monsoon that may be wetter but potentially more volatile. Image by Paul Varuni via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).

As a wetter monsoon looms, scientists watch the climate chessboard; farmers measure rainfall

Max Martin 8 May 2025

New construction waste rules push for producers’ accountability and recycling

Akshay Deshmane 2 May 2025
Farmers at work in a field in Kripekapura village, Bhind district, Madhya Pradesh. Image by Narwariya via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA 4.0).

Interstate farmer migration is reshaping agriculture, deepening environmental concerns [Commentary]

Mohanasundari Thangavel, Gaurav Banaula 30 Apr 2025
A representative image of tree felling in West Bengal. The Supreme Court of India is hearing a petition challenging a government-issued procedure for handling environmental violations. Image by Biswarup Ganguly via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).

Industry pushes for reinstatement of amnesty for environmental violations

Akshay Deshmane 25 Apr 2025
A dry pond catches fire. Representative image by Balurbala via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Wildfires rage amid dry weather and heat waves

Max Martin 23 Apr 2025

Farming families in India’s largest state are being pushed into debt, distress and migration

Ashwini Kumar Shukla 17 Apr 2025
An aerial shot of Malappuram town in Kerala. The urban policy report estimates that 80% of Kerala's population will be urban by 2050. Image by Truebrother via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

A state-led urban policy addresses climate risks and urbanisation

Navya P.K. 16 Apr 2025
Former President Pranab Mukherjee presenting the Padma Shri Award to Daripalli Ramaiah at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on March 30, 2017

Telangana green crusader Daripalli Ramaiah dies at 87 [Obituary]

Kundan Pandey 14 Apr 2025
Workers pushing cotton bales at Kolkata railway station. Cotton bales are a key raw material for the textile industry. Image by Jorge Royan via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)"

Latest ESG reporting rules redefine key suppliers and customers of listed companies

Kundan Pandey 11 Apr 2025

Ignoring biodiversity could put businesses at risk [Commentary]

Sumit Arora 7 Apr 2025
Migratory birds at the DPS Flamingo lake that is half covered with algae. Image by Esha Lohia/Mongabay

Citizens continue a decade-long fight to conserve an urban lake

Esha Lohia 2 Apr 2025
A market in Mysuru, Karnataka. Several Indian cities are introducing amnesty schemes to encourage property owners to clear pending taxes. Image by Kundan Pandey for Mongabay.

Property tax revenue could help cities adapt to a hotter world

Kundan Pandey 28 Mar 2025
An electric vehicle charging station in Begumpet, Hyderabad. Image by iMahesh via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Budget boosts EV battery manufacturing plans, but a big leap needed for success [Commentary]

Suresh Seshadri 19 Mar 2025
Manisha Oraon, co-founder of The Open Field, interacts with women at her restaurant. Besides serving local cuisine, her team is documenting Jharkhand’s tribal food traditions. Image courtesy of Manisha Oraon

Tribal entrepreneurs bring indigenous cuisine to the urban mainstream

Kundan Pandey 12 Mar 2025
Residents of Pulwama in Jharkhand say that while the Rajhara North coal mine’s reopening might offer temporary benefits, it risks repeating a cycle of displacement and environmental damage. Bindu Devi says that she will fight for the right compensation (R). The government has allocated mining blocks to Fairmine Carbons which has begun production (L). Images by Ashwini Kumar Shukla for Mongabay.

A coal mine reopens, sparking hope and fear

Ashwini Kumar Shukla 11 Mar 2025

The potential toxic fallout of herbicide use in solar parks

Gowthami Subramaniam 6 Mar 2025
Neela Hauz Biodiversity Park, a restored wetland near Sanjay Van, serves as a thriving habitat for migratory birds. Image by Nidhi Jamwal.

Creating urban biodiversity parks from degraded lands

Nidhi Jamwal 6 Mar 2025
Infopark in Kochi representative image urban climate resilience

A path to climate resilience through city-level research and planning

Divya Kilikar 4 Mar 2025
Traditional fishers on small craft prefer to finish work early before the sun gets too harsh. A crew lands their fibreglass boat at Thumba village on the city's fringes. Image by Max Martin.

Kerala’s early heat surge signals climate shift

Max Martin 25 Feb 2025

Public private partnerships build urban forests

Shweta Thakur Nanda 20 Feb 2025
City life in Jaipur. As of December 2024, around 41 cities have developed or are drafting City Climate Action Plans, as per a government statement. Image by Vyacheslav Argenberg via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-4.0).

Fixing the gaps in city climate plans with a national framework

Kundan Pandey 11 Feb 2025
critical minerals

India approves mission to bridge critical mineral gap in energy transition

Esha Lohia 7 Feb 2025

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The construction site of the Hebbal short tunnel. Image by Sohel Sarkar.
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