ഊർജ്ജം (Oorjjam, Malayalam; English: Energy)
Greetings from the Rainmatter Foundation!
India faces a critical energy challenge: Despite our commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2070, we remain heavily reliant on fossil fuels, which account for 75% of the greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, India imports nearly 40% of its energy needs, making it vulnerable to global market fluctuations.
A climate-resilient future calls for a just and equitable energy transition. However, as India shifts towards renewable energy sources, we cannot do so without addressing the potential economic, ecological, and social impacts. At Rainmatter Foundation, we support organisations working to achieve net zero emissions and ensure this transition is just and equitable. By adopting a systems-thinking approach, we aim to identify and address potential blind spots that may arise during this transformation. The other critical aspect is looking at energy’s intersections and impact on a number of other verticals – livelihoods, biodiversity, economics, policy, etc. This article, for example, talks about the impact and future of DRE technologies in relation to rural livelihoods. So it is important to be mindful of the impact of renewable energy plants on the local biodiversity and habitat loss.
An important element of finding climate solutions in the space of energy is the collaborative work between non-profit, research organisations, as well as the private sector. In the space of energy, the foundation has been working closely with the consortium of Prayas/IITD/Princeton University on understanding and modelling the Net Zero Transition Pathways for India; while Rainmatter Capital has been supporting innovative, impactful work by organisations like Solar Square, Zodhya and Sunday Grids, among others.
Identifying energy as a crucial piece in the climate puzzle, we’re looking to move ahead collaboratively, working alongside think tanks, organisations, policymakers, and changemakers across diverse, intersectional fields.
Updates from the Foundation
We kicked September off with the Rainmatter and Zerodha teams coming together over a weekend for an insightufl catch-up at our new Jayanagar office. Hours of delving deep into our thesis, looking back on what we’ve learnt so far, and looking ahead on what work in the climate space looks for us came out of this. The need to learn from and collaborate with a diversity of partners in this journey emerged. We also managed to encapsulate some of our learnings and hope for the future in this short catch-up with the RF thesis heads.
Watch Rainmatter Reflections here, and let us know what you think!
Soon after the monthly catch-up, our teammates Sameer, Vikas and Akshatha, headed out on field visits across Madhya Pradesh. They saw the first-hand, the revival and rejuvenation of natural ecosystems by the community through Halma traditions, what community ownership means to communities themselves, how decentralised production methods can preserve traditional skills, and innovations can focus on sufficiency and not extraction. Many interactions with campuses, partners, organisations and industries followed. Read about this experience in detail in Akshatha’s wonderful blog post.
Our team continues to work closely with our partners across the field of climate, some of whose updates are listed below.
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From the community
Since early this year, NCF has been running the Wonder of Birds course – a multimedia, free online course designed to inspire an appreciation of the beauty and significance of birds for all curious nature-lovers. This self-paced course has been taken by close to 8000 people so far, and continues to introduce many more people to the rich urban biodiversity surrounding them.
Gram Vikas joined as a Rainmatter partner last year. As they complete a year of association with us, we look back together on our shared journey and learnings. The overall objective of the programme is to ‘demonstrate community-managed climate resilience efforts in the Eastern Ghats region Odisha and Jharkhand, to influence State Government policies and actions’ through building communities’ capabilities to plan, design, implement and monitor activities related to reduce impacts of climate-related hazards and natural disasters, and enabling local governance system to adopt processes contributing to short-term and long-term climate resilience for rural communities. Read more here.
As Wayanad slowly rebuilds from the devastating landslides from July, HUME, Rainmatter’s partner, continues to play a critical role in equipping local communities to monitor and understand local climate variations that help in predicting landslides. The weather forecast model developed by HUME proved to be helpful during the landslides where it predicted heavy rains at least 16 hours earlier at the district level – information that was passed on to the Panchayat and helped many tribal settlements relocate in time. Watch their work, featured on scroll here.
Supported by the ClimateRise Alliance, Rainmatter partners Reap Benefit and SWMRT are adopting unique models of household awareness and training that are encouraging communities to be an integral part of climate action.
As part of National Wildlife Week, lantana elephants are travelling across the world, highlighting the urgency of human-animal coexistence. In Bangalore, visit Orion, Rajajinagar, Orion Uptown Mall, Forum Rex, Forum South Bangalore and Phoenix Mall of Asia to learn more about the initiative.
The Ecological Restoration Alliance is looking for someone who is passionate about community based ecological restoration to join as a manager for its Indigenous people and local communities (IPLC) desk. Registrations are also now open for restoration practitioners, conservationists and enthusiasts for the third edition of Restoring Natural Ecologies – ERA’s annual conference celebrating ecological restoration.
Opportunities and upcoming events
Climate-focused NGOs are at the forefront of environmental protection, but many lack the technological resources to maximise their impact. Meanwhile, skilled professionals and students eager to contribute to climate action often struggle to find meaningful ways to apply their expertise. Aikyam residency is a transformative 5-day program that brings together NGOs and skilled volunteers to co-create tech-driven solutions for climate action. They will collectively understand barriers faced by organisations working in climate action and which of those barriers can be meaningfully solved by leveraging technology. Apply here.
Indigenous voices are essential to creating a more equitable and sustainable future and there is an increasing need to get their voices into mainstream narrative and decision-making. Dialogue Earth’s, Indigenous voices fellowship program for Indigenous journalists, writers, and storytellers aims to spotlight and elevate issues vital to Indigenous communities throughout South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America, as seen through the unique lens of Indigenous media professionals.
WCS is hiring a field intern for the Forest Owlet Project : More details here.
“New research based on remote sensing data by the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Dehradun, whose scientists mapped land use and land cover changes (LULCC) in the western Himalayas from 1975 to 2015, reports a massive upsurge in urban areas in the ecologically fragile mountain systems, alongside a parallel forest decline”. The Western Himalayan Region (WHR) is under constant threat from LULCC due to urbanisation, agricultural expansion, and population growth, the IIRS study reports. Read more.
Parting shot
According to the World Economic Forum’s finding, climate impacts will cost healthcare systems a further US$1.1 trillion globally by 2050. The impact of climate change isn’t elsewhere; it’s felt in the here and now, affecting our physical and mental health, and culture. Are we willing to listen to the signs the planet is sending us? How do we brace for the future? Read more on Nature.com.
Until next time, may your roads be auspicious
śubhāste panthānaḥ santu
Tanmayi
Team Rainmatter Foundation