The Green Edit - Edition 01 (November 2026)
Our first edition - COP31, the numbers that matter for India, and a new conversation about the air we share.
Hello, and Happy Diwali.
Welcome to the very first edition of The Green Edit. I have wanted to write to you directly for a while - not with offers, but with the things I find myself thinking about long after the headlines move on.
Every month brings another commitment, another target, another billion-dollar announcement. The Green Edit is about what changes beyond the announcement - what it means, what deserves your attention, and what comes next. Once a month, in your inbox. I hope it earns its place there.
- Pratiksha More, CEO and Director, Sustainability 101
The big picture
From promises to delivery.
The climate conversation has changed. The question is no longer only what countries and companies promise. It is whether the money, the technology and the infrastructure actually arrive - grids that can store clean power, finance that reaches the projects, air that is safe to breathe.
This edition holds three proofs that the shift is real, and one reminder of why it cannot be slow.
India in focus
Two numbers, and one declaration.
300.50 GW
India's installed non-fossil power capacity as of 31 July 2026 - over 54% of the country's roughly 552 GW total, and more than 60% of the way to the 500 GW target for 2030.
Solar leads the mix at 164.59 GW, then wind at 58.14 GW, hydro 57.24 GW, bio-power 11.75 GW and nuclear 8.78 GW. The build-out is no longer a projection. It is here. The next test is storage, transmission and grid flexibility - clean power that arrives when it is needed. For businesses and investors, the opportunity is shifting too, from building renewable capacity to building the infrastructure that makes clean power dependable.
Source - Press Information Bureau, August 2026.
Rs 14,500 crore for 92 GWh
On 4 November, the Union Cabinet approved a viability gap funding scheme for grid-scale energy storage, to be built by FY31 - 30 GWh of batteries, 60 GWh of pumped hydro, 2 GWh of emerging technologies. That is roughly 1.7 times India's current grid-scale storage of about 54 GWh. Clean power only counts when it is there when you need it. This is how that gets built.
Sources - Press Information Bureau, 4 November 2026; Indian Express, 4 November 2026.
And one declaration. On 28 October, the ARISE Cities Forum in New Delhi - co-hosted by ICLEI South Asia and the National Institute of Urban Affairs - adopted the Delhi Declaration on Local Action for Global Climate Goals. Its subtitle says it all - From Bharat to Antalya. Climate is not negotiated only in summit halls. It is built in our cities, through transport, waste, water and municipal finance.
The global climate stage
COP31 - the road to Antalya.
From 9 to 20 November, representatives of more than 190 countries gather in Antalya, Türkiye, for COP31. Heads of state and government meet at the Antalya Leaders Summit on 11 and 12 November.
Three questions I will be watching. Will developing economies leave Antalya with more predictable and accessible climate finance? How will countries reconcile energy security with faster decarbonisation? And will adaptation commitments turn into funding and measurable protection for the communities that need it most?
India's delegation is led by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, with Environment Secretary Narendra Bhooshan and Additional Secretaries Amandeep Garg and Ashutosh Agnihotri. The brief is clear - predictable and accessible climate finance, technology transfer, adaptation funding (with a push to keep the Global Goal on Adaptation indicators voluntary), a just transition, and the development priorities of the Global South. As the Minister put it ahead of the conference, India will be part of the solution, never the problem.
Two people to watch. Murat Kurum, Türkiye's COP31 President, and Chris Bowen, Australia's Minister for Climate Change and Energy, who chairs the negotiations under the compromise that brought the conference to Antalya.
COP31 by the numbers
12 days - 9 to 20 November, each day dedicated to a priority theme. 2 summit days - the Leaders' Summit on 11 and 12 November, alongside Zero Waste and Resilient Cities. 190+ countries at the table. 1 host city - Antalya.
The programme opens with Food, Agriculture and Health and moves through Energy and Transport, Finance and Trade, and Science, Industry and Technology. 15 November is set aside for social and cultural programmes.
Sources - UNFCCC and COP31 Presidency, November 2026.
I will be watching one thing. Whether Antalya becomes the moment we stop counting commitments and start counting delivery.
Ideas and initiatives
Breathe - something personal I have been building.
When I landed in London, the first thing I noticed was the air. Clean roads, trees in bloom, no pollution hanging over the city. Back home in Mumbai, the trees wear dust.
We walk, we run, we eat well, we order organic. But what about the air we breathe? The WHO estimates that 99% of the world's population breathes air that fails its quality guidelines. That is not an environment story. It is a public-health story, and a story about all of us.
Breathe is my attempt to make that conversation accessible, evidence-led and action-oriented. It stands on four pillars, kept deliberately separate - understand the air, protect yourself, measure and interpret, and reduce pollution at the source, across transport, construction, waste, urban planning and policy.
The questions themselves are deceptively simple. Is it safe to exercise outdoors? Why does one neighbourhood breathe worse air than another? These are not only scientific questions. They are questions of public health, urban planning, governance and the quality of everyday life in our cities.
And the timing could not be more pointed. On 2 November, as Delhi's air turned 'very poor' for the first time this winter, the Commission for Air Quality Management invoked Stage II of the Graded Response Action Plan across Delhi-NCR. Every winter we ask the same question. Why is the air still unsafe to breathe? Breathe exists so that one day, the answer is different.
Source - Commission for Air Quality Management, 2 November 2026.
What comes next. Breathe is becoming its own identity - Understanding the Air We Share, a clean-air learning and action initiative, distinct from Sustainability 101's consulting and courses, with its own LinkedIn home. On my desk right now are a piece that follows the money - what India has allocated, released and actually spent on clean air - and a space where you can ask the everyday questions. Should I open my windows today? Is this haze dangerous? What can my street do about its dust? Some of this is decided, some still taking shape - I will share each step as it becomes real.
A small sign that the air is having its moment. COP31 has named its cultural day A Breath in Antalya. More soon.
A Diwali note
What lasts after the lights.
Every Diwali leaves two things behind. The obvious one - boxes, wrapping, flowers that wilt by the morning after. And the quieter one - the brass diya that comes out year after year, the decorations unpacked every October, the recipes made only this week.
The sustainable choice is rarely the new thing bought for the festival. It is the thing we keep long after it. So this year, start one tradition worth repeating - a diya that comes out every year, a gift that grows, a recipe worth handing down.
That is how the light lasts longer than the week. Happy Diwali.
The S101 Desk
What we are reading, writing and teaching.
Building sustainability knowledge, one conversation at a time. Here is what that looked like this month.
One read this month. If you export to the EU, or supply someone who does, the EU deforestation rule starts applying on 30 December 2026 for large and medium operators (30 June 2027 for micro and small businesses) - and it reaches Indian supply chains. We wrote a plain-English explainer.
Also on our desk. What the UK's ISSB move means if you work in sustainability reporting (our post), and this month's claim check - did SEBI make green credits mandatory? It did not.
And if structured learning would help, our programmes in GHG accounting, ESG and climate risk are on our website.
Careers in sustainability
One honest word on hiring.
ESG hiring has changed. The way I see it, a certificate alone no longer opens doors the way it used to - employers increasingly ask what you have actually measured, reported or built. And I will not pretend the wider job market is kind right now. Too many capable people apply for months and hear nothing back.
Here is the part worth holding on to. LinkedIn's Global Green Skills Report 2026 finds demand for green talent in India growing slightly ahead of the supply of people with those skills. The opportunity is real, but it rewards proof of work over intent. If you are searching, keep going - and keep building evidence of what you can do.
Source - LinkedIn Global Green Skills Report 2026, via ET Sustainability.
One idea to take away
Is the green transition also a financial transition?
We have the technologies to generate clean energy, the frameworks to measure emissions and the targets to reach net zero. The harder questions are about money. Who finances the shift, who bears the cost, how sustainable technologies become commercially viable, and how we make sure developing economies are not left holding the bill. Climate action is increasingly a question of capital allocation, risk management and economic competitiveness. The next generation of sustainability leaders will need to speak both languages - the science and the economics.
That is all for our first edition. Here is a question to take with you. India has crossed 300 GW of non-fossil power capacity - what should we measure progress by next? More capacity, better storage, or less fossil generation? Reply and tell me. I read every reply myself.
Stay curious. Stay sustainable.
Warm regards,
Pratiksha More
CEO and Director, Sustainability 101
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