Photo source: DD India By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst  A Circular Economy Approach Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation, an initiative launched by Government of India in 2018,  marks an important shift in India’s renewal energy strategy by treating organic waste as an economic resource than an environmental burden. The initiative envisages thousands of Compressed Biogas plants converting biomass into transport grade fuel while generating organic manure as commercially valuable by product. The model embodies clear circular economy principles. Research has consistently highlighted India’s untapped potential. Writing in Energy Policy, Ravindranath and Balachandra (2009) argue that India’s vast agricultural economy generates enormous quantities of crop residue and animal waste that remain significantly underutilised, despite their considerable energy value. Likewise a 2021 report by NITI Aayog concludes that decentalised Compressed Biogas production co...

By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst Photo Source: Wire Science India’s energy transition is not only about reducing carbon emissions, or expanding renewable energy. It is also about whether Indian economy can reconcile three objectives namely sustaining economic growth, strengthening energy security, and meeting high climate commitments. With time, the debate has put India part of a broader Global South dilemma. The country also presents a unique case. Instead of many advanced economies, that embarked on decarbonisation after rapid industrialisation, India is pursuing development and green transitions simultaneously. This dual challenge makes India’s case interestingly complex. The transition will also depend on whether its institutions, markets, technology, and public policy converge in long term. Historian of energy Vaclav Smil has consistently argued societies do not replace one source of energy with another. They rather transform entire eco-systems. He further postulates that ev...

Photo source: The Decoder By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst  F or much of the past decade, artificial intelligence has been marketed as a technological breakthrough that would make organisations more efficient, reduce labour costs and unlock extraordinary productivity gains. The narrative was simple and compelling. Machines would assume routine tasks, businesses would operate with fewer employees and economic output would increase. Investors embraced the vision, executives repeated it and consultants built entire strategies around it. Yet as artificial intelligence moves from experimentation to large-scale deployment, a more complicated picture is emerging. The systems expected to reduce costs are themselves becoming major cost centres. Across the technology industry, companies are discovering that advanced AI requires enormous expenditures on computing infrastructure, specialised hardware, electricity and maintenance. The economics of automation are proving less straightforwa...

Photo source: Kashmir Observer By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst O ver the years, research in Kashmir valley suggests that glaciers are receding at an accelerated rate. The research paper titled ‘Glacial-geomorphic study of the Thajwas Glacier Valley, Kashmir Himalayas, India,’ published by Elsevier, and authored by Reyaz Ahmad Dar, Omar Jaan, Khalid Omar Murtaza, and Shakil Ahmad Romshoo, present critical findings regarding the region's climate history and landscape evolution. The study shows that the Thajwas glacier has experienced significant recession from its maximum extent during the last glacial period due to climate warming.  Also, the study has revealed indications of small deposits of glacial debris left behind when the glacier temporarily paused during retreat, by mapping major erosional and depositional glacial landforms. The scholars concluded that the glacier is responding to regional climatic fluctuations. The findings also argue that Kashmir valley's disti...

Photo source: AZoCleanTech By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst I n our world, more than half of the population now lives in cities, and the United Nations projects that this figure will reach about 68 per cent by 2050. The question is no longer whether cities should become sustainable, but how sustainability can be achieved across rapidly expanding urban areas. The answer lies not only in new technologies and smarter planning but also in ideas that are nearly two thousand years old and remain remarkably relevant. Cities such as Copenhagen, Singapore, Curitiba, Stockholm, and Freiburg demonstrate that economic growth, environmental protection, and a high quality of life can coexist, although rising living costs remain an ongoing challenge. Copenhagen's extensive cycle-track network, district heating system, and CopenHill waste-to-energy facility integrate sustainable mobility, clean energy, and public recreation. Singapore's Supertree Grove, vertical greening, and NEWater p...

Photo source: Edhas Biofuel Refinery By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst  A s rising ethanol demand and El Nino temperature affect India’s sugarcane industry, the surplus for export is poised to likely decrease for next three seasons. Millions of tons of sugar will be off the world market, threatening supplies for importers across Asia, Africa, and Middle East. It also shows that weather risks and biofuel policies are greatly reshaping global sugar trade flows. Recently, Reuters had done interviews with over a dozen trade and industry executives, government sources, and farmers. They concluded that rising ethanol demand will leave little scope for exports for several years, prompting dealers at global houses to warn head offices of shrinking trade opportunities in India. In Indian culture, sugar is a top consumed product, mainly used in sweets and many poorer households rely on its cheap source of calories. Statistics reveal that India exported 6.8 million metric tons of sugar a...

Photo source: The Global Kashmir  By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst O ver the past few decades, a growing scholarship has emerged from Kashmir valley, which has established a profound transformation of the valley’s agrarian landscape. Their research work suggests that agricultural land is steadily shrinking, farming is becoming less attractive as a livelihood, and the rural society is undergoing a process of de-agrarianisation. There have been several contemporary studies done which lay out policy, their implications, as well as scientific reasons behind agricultural decline, leading to varying perspectives. One of the earliest scientific examinations of this phenomenon came from agricultural economists, Dr. M.H. Wani, Sajad Hassan Baba, and Shahid Yousuf of SKUAST-Kashmir in their influential 2009 study. They came to some conclusions such as huge pressure of increasing population on land and other resources of the state leading to agricultural production decline. They also pe...

Photo source: Never Blue IT By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst   A s one of the most influential technologies of our era, artificial intelligence is reshaping the sectors of public administration, financial system, scientific research, and everyday life. Behind its presence lies a deeply physical infrastructure, made up of data centres, semiconductor factories, fibre networks, and global mineral supply chains. The technology relies on an infrastructure dependent on electricity, water, land, and materials at a scale, which is not widely apparent in public debate. However, what is conclusive now through international evidence is that AI is not environmentally neutral, even if its global footprint remains partially measurable. The major starting point for the analysis on this issue would be the measured data on global digital ecosystems. The International Energy Agency reports that global energy consumption has been rising steadily, around 1 to 1.5 percent, and that electricity de...

  Photo Source: Sundrop Farms Website By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst Sustainability is increasingly recognised as a framework for creating long-term environmental, economic and social value rather than simply reducing environmental harm. Within contemporary business strategy, sustainability has evolved from a corporate social responsibility initiative into a driver of innovation, operational resilience and stakeholder confidence. Scholars such as Michael Porter and Mark Kramer (2011) argue that firms can create 'shared value' by aligning commercial success with solutions to societal challenges, although the economic benefits of sustainability depend on effective implementation and local market conditions. One of the most widely cited examples of sustainable agricultural innovation is Sundrop Farms, located near Port Augusta in South Australia. According to Sundrop Farms (2024), the company integrates concentrated solar thermal energy, seawater desalination and hydroponi...