Session Rationale: Recent monsoon seasons in India have exhibited high variability—including delayed onset, uneven rainfall, intense short bursts, and extended dry periods—caused by factors such as El Niño, warming oceans, and changing land–atmosphere interactions. These changes have directly impacted sowing schedules, irrigation requirements, and crop yields across major agricultural areas.

With new evidence from IMD and leading Indian research institutions indicating increasing monsoon unpredictability, reliable sub-seasonal forecasts and climate models are becoming crucial tools for farmers and state agencies. This session will explore how advances in monsoon science can support smarter crop planning, water management, and risk preparedness, helping India develop more climate resilient agricultural systems.

Session Rationale: India’s clean energy transition is accelerating at an unprecedented pace, driven by rapid growth in renewables, declining storage costs, national commitments to net-zero, and an urgent need to address intensifying climate risks. Yet the shift to low-carbon energy is no longer only a mitigation imperative—it has become central to building climate-resilient communities, especially in regions facing extreme heat, rising electricity demand, water scarcity, and agricultural vulnerability.

Recent developments highlight the scale and importance of this transformation. The emergence of solar-powered irrigation, climate-smart cold chains, clean energy for health facilities, and battery-enabled rural microgrids is reshaping both agricultural systems and community services. The expansion of green hydrogen, distributed renewables, and energy-efficient technologies is opening new pathways for decarbonisation while enhancing reliability and reducing climate-exposure risks for farmers, households, and local economies. At the same time, increasing heatwaves and peak power loads underscore the need for adaptive, decentralized, and resilient energy systems that can protect livelihoods, power essential services, and enable climate-safe food production.

This session explores how integrated climate and clean-energy strategies can support India’s transition to low-carbon, heat-resilient, and socially inclusive communities. It will examine frontier innovations, financing mechanisms, and policy shifts shaping this space—ranging from renewable-powered water systems and agri-value chains to energy access for health, education, and local governance. By bringing together energy planners, climate scientists, resilience practitioners, and state leaders, the discussion will highlight actionable pathways for scaling clean energy solutions that reduce emissions, enhance adaptive capacity, and strengthen community well-being across climate-vulnerable regions.

Session Rationale: Climate change is heightening public health risks across South Asia, a region already characterised by high population density, climate-sensitive livelihoods, and stressed health and water systems. Intensifying heat extremes, shifting monsoon behaviour, deteriorating air quality, and more frequent water-related disasters are driving significant health impacts from heat stress and dehydration to respiratory illnesses, vector-borne diseases, and nutrition-related vulnerabilities. Recent events across the region including record-breaking heatwaves in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, prolonged humidity stress, urban air pollution episodes, and climate-linked outbreaks of dengue, cholera, and diarrhoeal diseases underscore how environmental changes directly affect farmers, informal workers, and low-income communities.

Climate impacts on agriculture such as crop losses, irrigation stress, soil degradation, and disruptions to food supply chains further compound public health risks by affecting household nutrition, income stability, and occupational safety.

This session explores these interlinked climate–health–agriculture–water challenges, drawing on emerging solutions from across South Asia, including heat-health action plans, climate-informed disease surveillance, early warning systems, nutrition-sensitive and climate-smart agriculture, clean energy for health and farm systems, and improved community-led water management. By convening experts from health, agriculture, water, and climate science, the session aims to advance coordinated, region-wide approaches that protect vulnerable populations, strengthen food and health systems, and build climate-resilient communities across South Asia.