Sustainable development in India now encompasses a variety of development schemes in social, cleantech (clean energy, clean water and sustainable agriculture) and human resources segments, having caught the attention of both Central and State governments and also public and private sectors. Social sector, cleantech investments into green energy and fuel alternatives and development schemes for backward and below the poverty line (BPL) families are being touted as some of the more heavily invested segments in India in 2009, despite the economic slowdown.

In fact, India is expected to begin the greening of its national income accounting starting next year, making depletion in natural resources wealth a key component in its measurement of gross domestic product (GDP).

Sustainable energy investment in India went up to US$ 3.7 billion in 2008, up 12 per cent since 2007. It included asset finance of US$ 3.2 billion, up by 36 per cent. Venture capital and private equity saw an increase of 270 per cent to US$ 493 million. Merger and acquisition activities totalled US$ 585 million. Most acquisition activity was centered on biomass, small hydro and wind projects, according to the report, Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2009.

India’s sustained work towards reducing Greenhouse Gases (GHG) will ensure that the country’s per capita emission of GHG will continue to be low until 2030-31, and it is estimated that the per capita emission in 2031 will be lower than per capita global emission of GHG in 2005, according to a new study. Even in 2031, India’s per capita GHG emissions would stay under four tonnes of CO₂, which is lower than the global per capita emission of 4.22 tonnes of CO₂ in 2005.

India has been ranked ninth in the tree planting roll of honour in a campaign to plant a billion trees, which was launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in November 2006. The country has registered 96 million trees.

Two Indian companies including Wipro and HCL have figured in the list of top five green electronics brands as per the 8th edition of the Guide to Greener Electronics, because of their strong focus on the e-waste management and climate control. The study which for the first time has included climate and energy as criteria for evaluation, has placed Wipro in joint second position with Samsung.

Corporate Initiatives

• Global systems and services company Dell, in partnership with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), has launched ‘The Climate Eduxchange’–an IT-enabled initiative to improve environment education in schools across India. The campaign aims to raise awareness and understanding about climate change issues among students and teachers of all disciplines.
• SOS Children’s Villages of India and Coca-Cola India announced the commencement of work on 24 million litres of rainwater harvesting (RWH) project at SOS Children’s Village in Aluva near Kochi. The project, on completion, will help ensure safe drinking water for children and nearby communities.
• Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS), an organisation involved in the steel major's community building initiatives has embarked on an initiative to empower communities by creating awareness on the Right to Information (RTI) Act at the grassroots level.