Renewable energy

South Asia’s Renewable Transition: Energy Security, Geopolitics and the BRICS Factor

The regional opportunity is particularly significant in electricity. Nepal and Bhutan can potentially export hydropower; India can provide the scale of demand and investment required to create a regional electricity market; Bangladesh can become an important electricity consumer; and Sri Lanka and Pakistan can expand solar and wind. Greater cross-border electricity trade could allow countries to exploit complementary renewable resources and reduce the need for expensive domestic backup capacity.

The Himalayas Need a Common Language of Warning: Emergency Cooperation Must be Institutionalised Into Durable Regional Architecture

A genuinely regional approach could eventually include - besides Nepal, China and India - Bhutan and, where relevant, downstream institutions in Bangladesh. Organisations with established Himalayan expertise, particularly the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu, could offer scientific and institutional support.

The Himalayas are Sending a Warning: Need for Timely Trans-Border Sharing of Environmental Information

The Himalayas are not collapsing because humanity exists, but humanity is creating a warmer world in which the Himalayas are becoming less predictable. The real question is no longer whether climate change will alter the mountains. It already is. 

When an Entire Village and Bazaar in Nepal Disappeared in an Instant

My eldest aunt was swept away. So was her son, my dai Madhu, and his wife. My other aunt — gone too, they told me. Her grandson Sijan and his wife, caught in the same water. His own son and daughter-in-law, unreachable, unaccounted for. My maternal uncle had gone out that morning to cut grass for the cattle. He never came back.

More on Climate, Sustainability and Energy

UN chief to show solidarity with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

“The plight of the Rohingyas is something that is extremely close to his heart”, having “dealt directly with the Rohingya crisis” while in that office, he said. 

US breaks with Western allies, turns world order on its head

India made six abstentions — that is not taking any sides - on the resolutions proposed by the US and by Ukraine as well as on one amendment moved by Russia to the Ukraine-sponsored resolution and on the three amendments sponsored by France and others to the US resolutions.

India retains title of world’s fastest-growing large economy in UN report

“GDP in Bhutan and Nepal is projected to grow by over 5 per cent in 2025, but the economy of Bangladesh is expected to slow following unrest in mid-2024 and lingering political uncertainty”, it said

Pakistan joins UN Security Council in 2025; will have virtual veto on designating terrorists

Now Islamabad will not have to rely on Beijing to protect its terrorists like the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Sajid Mir, at the Islamic State and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, which designates individuals and groups associated with those two organisations as terrorists and imposes sanctions.

Meditation brings tranquility at UN headquarters consumed by global turmoil

The General Assembly adopted by acclamation on December 6 the resolution moved by a core group of India, Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mexico, and Andorra, and joined by many others to declare the Winter Solstice Day the World Meditation Day.

UN ‘salutes’ India-China agreement on dispute resolution

The resumption of the regular high-level meeting followed an agreement between Prime Minister Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping in Kazan, Russia in October.

Swami Vivekananda's life commemorated at event at UN

UNSRC President Peter Dawkins said that through the exhibition they want to highlight Vivekananda’s relevance to “the core values and purposes and mission of the United Nations”.

UN head welcomes India-China border agreement

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hopes “good neighbourly relations” between India and China will be strengthened following their agreement on border de-escalation, his Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Tuesday.“We certainly welcome any positive engagement between the nations of China and India, and we hope that process of good neighborly relations will be strengthened”, he said.

India tells UN Islamabad disappointed to see real democracy in Kashmir

“India symbolises pluralism, diversity, and democracy. In contrast, Pakistan reminds the world of terrorism, parochialism, and persecution” the Indian diplomat said. 

India’s call for urgent adoption of anti-terrorism treaty it proposed 30 years ago; will Pakistan change its stance?

“Terrorist groups have enormously increased their capabilities by acquiring new and cutting-edge technologies, including drones and unmanned aircraft systems with cameras”, she said. 

UN looks for hope in Gandhi’s vision

Gandhi's idea of satyagraha influenced Nelson Mandela in South Africa, and Martin Luther King Jr in the US were deeply influenced by Gandhi’s concept of Satyagraha “which teaches that truth and justice are not achieved through violence but through moral courage and peaceful dialogue”, Yang said in the message delivered by his chef de cabinet Ivor Fung at a meeting on Gandhian Values and UN Charter.

UN's relevance in jeopardy in the absence of reforms

The UN membership has undergone a sea change since 1945 and the new realities need to be reflected in the permanent membership.  Any proposal that does not address the issue of representation of the Global South, including Africa, Asia and Latin America, in the permanent category does a grave injustice to the aspirations of developing countries for equality.

Cross-border terrorism will have consequences, Pakistan warned at UNGA

“A premier example is our neighbour, Pakistan”, he said of the consequences it faces internally as a result of promoting terrorism. But “unfortunately, their misdeeds affect others as well, especially the neighbourhood”, he said

Is India playing a peacemaker’s role in the Ukraine war?

New Delhi, which has historically had close diplomatic and strategic ties with Moscow, is forging an independent path open to the West giving it room to be a conduit between the two countries for peace diplomacy.

UN chief warns that world is edging towards 'powder keg'; underlines urgent need for reform of global institutions

The Cold War had some rules, but today “we are in a purgatory of polarity” where the world has not reached a state of multi-polarity and “more and more countries are filling the spaces of geopolitical divides, doing whatever they want with no accountability”’