BENGALURU: Karnataka is planning to formulate climate action plans for all 5,994 gram panchayats and 314 urban local bodies as part of its efforts to decentralise climate governance, said T Mahesh, the director of administration department at Environmental Management and Policy Research Institute (EMPRI), on Thursday.
Addressing the Advancing Sustainability: Collaboration and Innovation to Accelerate Net-Zero, a conclave organised by Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC), he said the initiative is aimed at making climate accountability a village-level responsibility and could become a first-of-its-kind model in India.
The proposed gram panchayat-level climate plans are part of Karnataka’s revised State Action Plan on Climate Change Version 2, aligned with India’s Paris Agreement commitments. He said the state has mapped 105 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across 50 departments, including agriculture, horticulture and urban development, which are being monitored monthly at the apex level by the chief secretary.
“Karnataka’s ambition is to make every gram panchayat a unit of climate accountability, where a farmer in Bidar and a panchayat leader in Kodagu both understand, own and act on their role in India’s Net-Zero journey,” he said.
District-level training programmes on climate KPIs are already underway across Karnataka to support the decentralised climate action initiative. If implemented successfully, the model could serve as a blueprint for climate planning across India’s nearly 2.5 lakh gram panchayats.
Speaking at the event, BCIC President Prashant Gokhale said sustainability should become part of everyday life and not remain limited to corporate boardrooms. He stressed the need for conscious individual efforts such as reducing food wastage and conserving water and energy.
During the conclave, BCIC also released a report titled Collaboration, Innovation and Net-Zero Imperative and presented Sustainability Awards 2026 to member organisations for best practices in sustainability and ESG initiatives.
