Foreword

2025 has begun on an exciting note for Transitions Research. This month, the Managing Director of our People’s Urban Living Lab (PULL) spoke at the Pune Public Policy Festival 2025 on Sustainable Growth and Resilience in Urban Cities, setting the tone for a year of impactful conversations. On the research front, we’ve published a two-part blog series that explores strategies to boost rooftop solar adoption in India. In our role as the Tracking–Learning–and Sharing (TLS) lead of the global Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA), we hosted a workshop to shape the 2025 TLS Learning Journeys of ARA members worldwide.

Upcoming at Transitions

Informality to Impact: Building Urban Resilience in India’s Informal Settlements: Join our Talking About Transitions (TAT) dialogue on February 21st at 5:00 pm IST.?

Continuing our bimonthly dialogue series in 2025, the first Talking about Transition of 2025 aims to address the urgent need to build climate resilience in India’s informal urban settlements. By fostering conversations among for-profit and non-profit implementing agencies and funders, we hope to uncover ground-level insights into implementing resilience solutions and explore opportunities to scale these efforts in informal settlements. The discussion will tackle the challenges of scaling innovations in these complex environments and identify critical enablers, such as innovative financing models, and effective monitoring and evaluation strategies, that can drive scalable and impactful solutions.

Register here.

Publications

Godwin Paul Chandra Sekar and Sushant Figueiredo explore strategies to increase adoption of rooftop solar in India in their two-part blog.

Part One: Exploring Innovative Business Models for Mainstreaming Rooftop Solar in India

India has set an ambitious target of 500 GW renewable energy by 2030. Most of this capacity will be coming from solar power. But rooftop solar is still not widely adopted.?

In this blog, Godwin Paul Chandra Sekar and Sushant Figueiredo discuss simple and effective approaches for making solar more accessible. This blog discusses various financing and ownership models for rooftop solar, including shared ownership models. Godwin and Sushant discuss the steps that government bodies, finance institutions, and other key stakeholders can take to incentivise solar adoption nationwide. Learn how these models can help save businesses and households money, help communities, and ease the transition to clean energy.

Read the first part of the blog here

Part Two: Tackling Challenges and Scaling Solutions for a Solar-Powered India

Rooftop solar can be a game-changer for India's clean energy future. However, issues with financing, awareness, and regulations have impeded adoption rates.?

In the second part of this blog, Godwin Paul Chandra Sekar and Sushant Figueiredo explore practical solutions, including affordable financing options such as green loans and community funding, simplified policies to encourage partnerships between the public and private sectors, and lessons from successful solar initiatives worldwide. These insights aim to empower individuals, businesses, and communities with the skills and knowledge to adopt rooftop affordably and profitably.

Read the second part of the blog here

Nishant Sirohi on climate governance: Issue brief on ITLOS’s advisory opinion on climate change for Observer Research Foundation

Nishant Sirohi, Law and Society Fellow at Transitions Research, examines the landmark 2024 advisory opinion by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), which recognised greenhouse gas emissions as marine pollution under UNCLOS.?

While non-binding, the advisory opinion sets significant legal precedents for climate and ocean governance by emphasising obligations such as due diligence, transboundary impact assessments, and adherence to the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’.

The brief offers a focused exploration of the opinion’s implications for India and the Global South, highlighting the challenges and opportunities in aligning climate commitments with sustainable development goals. It also examines how this precedent bridges international maritime law and climate frameworks, paving the way for transformative global climate litigation.

Read more here.

Harnessing Collective Knowledge to Advance Extreme Heat Adaptation

Extreme heat is a growing crisis, especially in the Global South, where solutions require collective action and shared expertise. In this blog, Diksha Gupta and Prerna Singh from Transitions Research, and Mihir R. Bhatt from AIDMI reflect on key insights from an Asia-Pacific workshop, emphasizing the role of collaboration in advancing adaptation efforts. By tracking, learning, and sharing knowledge, we are building more effective, inclusive, and resilient responses to extreme heat.

Read more here.

Events

Ashali Bhandari, Managing Director of #PULL, participates in a dialogue on ‘Sustainable Urban Growth and Resilience in India’ at the Pune Public Policy Festival 2025.

At the Pune Public Policy Festival, Ashali joined Mr Aseem Gupta (Principal Secretary Urban Development Department, Government of Maharashtra), Dr Sumita Kale (ICFI CEO and Senior Fellow), and Mr Anirudh Burman (Fellow and Associate Research Director at Carnegie India) to discuss pathways for sustainable and resilient urbanisation in India. The conversation focused on the need to align development and service provision goals with climate challenges, while also protecting the most vulnerable communities from climate risks such as flooding and extreme heat. Ashali presented ongoing work at PULL, which uses a novel approach to test socio-technological innovation and drive social and behavioural change to ensure India’s cities grow sustainably while adapting to emerging climate risks.

Learning Agenda Design workshop hosted by Transitions Research, as the Tracking—Learning—Sharing (TLS) lead of the Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA)

On 23 January, Transitions Research, as the Tracking–Learning–Sharing (TLS) lead of the Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA), hosted a virtual Learning Agenda Design workshop with 44 adaptation action-research organisations from across the globe. The workshop focused on two critical themes: Climate Change and Health and Climate Change and Human Settlements. Participants worked collaboratively to identify high-priority challenges, map key knowledge gaps, and refine the learning agenda that will shape this year’s TLS learning journey.

Insights collected from ARA members during this workshop will guide efforts to strengthen knowledge-sharing and drive actionable adaptation strategies in the Global South, ensuring that research and practice align to address urgent climate adaptation needs.

Angelina Chamuah, Programme Director, Future Foresight, participated in a recent #IGPPExpertTalks episode – A Closer Look at The MeitY’s Report on AI Governance Guidelines Development.

In a recent online discussion, Ms Angelina Chamuah, Programme Director at Future Foresight, joined Ms Heena Goswami, Editorial Consultant at Institute for Governance, Policies and Politics (IGPP), to analyse MeitY's AI Governance Guidelines Development report. The session highlighted key takeaways from the report, its strengths, and areas for improvement, offering valuable insights into the evolving landscape of AI governance.

New Joinee

We are pleased to welcome a new member to our growing team!

Shruti Pandey is a Learning Designer, and she develops fellowship curricula, designs e-learning modules, and engages with stakeholders to enhance climate capacity-building. She is a Senior Research Fellow and a PhD candidate at the University of Delhi. Her research critically explores global justice in the context of climate change, focusing on the ethical dimensions of responsibility and governance. She has extensive experience in climate education and learning design.

What we’ve been reading/watching/listening to

I've been tuning into The Daring Cities Podcast, where urban leaders share their bold actions to combat the climate emergency and build more resilient cities. It’s a must-listen for anyone interested in innovative climate solutions in urban settings.? –Nupur Khanter, Research Associate

I’ve been watching and rewatching some David Attenborough docuseries. I watched Wild Isles, which explores patches of wilderness and interesting wildlife phenomena on the British Isles. Now I’m watching Green Planet, which follows the secret life of plants, algae, and fungi. I’m learning weird and wonderful facts. Above all, I’m enjoying drinking in these gorgeous landscapes. Sometimes all the bad news about the planet can feel overwhelming. I enjoy the chance to get away, even if only via my screen. –Amita Basu, Research Fellow

Call to action

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