A massive $107 billion investment in gas infrastructure across South Asia may be built on shaky ground, according to a new report from Global Energy Monitor (GEM) . While the region can benefit from an impending global liquefied natural gas (LNG) surplus, high project failure rates and the rapid rise of cheaper renewables threaten to turn these ambitious plans into stranded assets.
Following the Supreme Court of India’s recent direction to states and urban local bodies to tighten compliance with solid waste management rules, and the Union Budget’s push for urban infrastructure financing and municipal bond incentives, the fundamentals of city governance and capacity needs renewed attention. India will need nearly USD 840 billion in urban infrastructure investment over the next 15 years. Yet Indian cities raise less than 0.6 per cent of GDP in own-source revenues, compared to 2-4 per cent mobilised by cities in developed OECD countries. The mismatch between ambition and capacity may now be too large to ignore.

A new report by Nature revealed that global sea levels are about 30 cm higher than the estimates in 99% of the global coast hazard assessments. The research conducted by Katharina Seeger, PhD researcher and Dr. Philip S. J. Minderhoud, Associate Professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands stated that this underestimation happened because the assessment failed to correctly evaluate actual sea level measurements.
As conflict intensifies between Iran, Israel, and the US, India finds itself in a fix. With nearly 90% of its crude oil imported, India’s vulnerability to disruptions in West Asia has reached a critical tipping point.
Global oil and gas prices continue to rise as the war between US-Israel and Iran continues. With energy exports from West Asia on pause, and oil ships and energy facilities being attacked, production and transportation of oil and gas has stopped across the Gulf.
India’s EV trajectory is growing rapidly. It is being supported by a significant surge in capital, attracting approximately ₹2.23 lakh crore in realized investments between 2020 and 2025. However, a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) warns that this is only 18% of the ₹12.5 lakh crore required to meet India’s 2030 electrification targets.