Greening India’s Future: Building Climate-Resilient Cities (2025)

Policy Update
Aravindsamy R

Background

India is experiencing rapid urbanization, with over 35% of its population now residing in cities—a figure projected to reach 40% by 2035. While urban growth drives economic development, it has also intensified ecological stress, reducing green cover and increasing vulnerabilities to climate change.

Quantitative trends highlight the urgency of the situation:

Ahmedabad has seen a 77.6% decline in dense vegetation between 2001 and 2023.
Mumbai has lost 42.5% of its urban green cover over the past three decades, equivalent to over 12,000 hectares.
Bhopal is losing green cover at 2.5% per year, potentially falling below 9% by 2031.
Bengaluru has lost 93% of its lakes and 88% of its forest cover over the past fifty years.
Kochi and Panjim report reductions in street tree density, with Kochi experiencing a 28% decrease and Panjim an 11% decrease.
Nationally, India has lost approximately 2.33 million hectares of tree cover since 2000, representing a 6% decrease.

This loss of urban greenery exacerbates the urban heat island effect, worsens air quality, increases flood risks, and threatens urban biodiversity. It underlines the urgent need for integrating greening and climate-resilience measures into urban planning, ensuring that urban growth aligns with ecological sustainability.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has recognized these challenges and aligned its urban development programs with the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and India’s commitments under the Paris Agreement. Initiatives such as the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT 2.0), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U), the Climate-Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF), and targeted urban greening programs aim to foster climate-resilient cities that balance growth with sustainability.

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Functioning

MoHUA’s urban greening and climate-resilience efforts are carried out through multi-pronged approaches:

AMRUT 2.0 (2021–2026)

Objective: Rejuvenate 500 cities through increased green spaces, development of urban forests, and sustainable water management.
Achievements: As of June 2024, AMRUT 2.0 has approved over 8,200 projects with a total cost of ₹182,583.07 crores, including initiatives for parks and green spaces.

National Mission on Sustainable Habitat (NMSH)

Focus: Energy efficiency in urban planning, waste-to-energy plants, and eco-restoration of degraded urban lands.

Urban Greening Guidelines (2022)

Purpose: Provide cities with a roadmap to enhance tree plantation, urban forests, and biodiversity parks.

Climate-Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF)

Objective: Benchmark cities based on climate action indicators, including urban greenery and resilience.
Progress: The CSCAF 2.0 assessment indicates that cities have shown considerable progress in urban planning, green cover, and biodiversity NIUA .

PMAY-U (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban)

Goal: Integrate eco-friendly materials and green housing technologies, reducing carbon footprints in urban housing.
Initiatives: The Global Housing Technology Challenge (GHTC-India) identified 54 innovative construction technologies from 25 countries, promoting sustainable housing solutions [Press Information Bureau].

These programs function with financial support from central and state governments, technical assistance from MoHUA, and implementation through Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and State Urban Development Authorities.

Performance

The performance of MoHUA’s greening initiatives has shown both progress and gaps:

Increase in Green Spaces: Under AMRUT 1.0, 1,800 parks were rejuvenated across 475 cities, benefiting nearly 40 million urban residents. AMRUT 2.0 aims for over 2,500 new parks and development of urban forests.
Urban Afforestation: Cities like Bhopal, Pune, and Hyderabad have adopted the Miyawaki method, creating dense micro-forests on small land parcels. Hyderabad alone has developed more than 200 urban forests.
CSCAF 2.0 Implementation: Out of 126 participating cities, over 80 cities demonstrated progress in climate-resilient infrastructure, including green cover enhancement.
Sustainable Housing Practices: PMAY-U has piloted 54 innovative construction technologies under the Global Housing Technology Challenge, with several models promoting green housing and resource efficiency.

While progress is visible, the scale remains inadequate compared to the magnitude of India’s urbanization. Rapid real estate expansion and encroachment continue to reduce per capita green space, which in many Indian cities remains below the WHO-recommended 9 square meters per person.

Hyderabad’s Haritha Haram Program: Developed 200+ urban forests using the Miyawaki technique, supported by citizen participation and corporate CSR.
Bhopal’s Climate Action Plan: Integrated green zones into the city’s Smart City master plan, linking CSCAF benchmarks with actionable climate policies.
Surat’s Flood Resilience Strategy: Combined riverfront greening with bio-swales and water-sensitive design, significantly reducing monsoon flood impacts.

Policy Review: MoHUA’s initiatives have undoubtedly brought urban greening into the mainstream of city planning. However, their policy design remains fragmented, often working in silos across missions. Stronger institutional integration between AMRUT, Smart Cities Mission, PMAY-U, and CSCAF is needed. Dedicated urban greening funds, enhanced use of geospatial technology, and greater citizen involvement would strengthen outcomes. Moreover, cities must move beyond plantation drives towards nature-based solutions that combine ecological sustainability with climate resilience.

Impact

The impact of MoHUA’s initiatives can be assessed on multiple dimensions:

Environmental Impact: Urban afforestation and greening projects have reduced the urban heat island effect in cities like Delhi and Pune by 1–2°C in localized zones. Tree plantation drives have also improved urban air quality marginally, though pollution remains a critical issue.
Water & Flood Management: Green infrastructure, including bio-swales and rejuvenated water bodies under AMRUT, has reduced flooding in flood-prone cities such as Chennai and Bengaluru.
Social Well-being: Access to rejuvenated parks and biodiversity parks has improved citizens’ mental health, recreation, and quality of life. Initiatives like NULM link green jobs with livelihood generation, offering opportunities in nursery management and waste-to-energy enterprises.
Institutional Learning: Cities adopting CSCAF benchmarks have mainstreamed resilience indicators into master plans, marking a shift from reactive to preventive planning.

However, the equity impact remains uneven—poorer neighbourhoods still lack adequate green cover, and maintenance challenges persist due to insufficient funding at the ULB level.

Emerging Issues

Despite achievements, MoHUA’s urban greening and resilience initiatives face critical challenges:

Land Availability Constraints: Rapid real estate growth leaves little room for large-scale greening projects. Urban forests often rely on marginal or degraded land parcels.
Coordination Failures: Limited synergy between MoHUA, state governments, and ULBs results in fragmented implementation.
Funding Gaps: While AMRUT and other schemes allocate funds, ULBs often lack dedicated budgets for the long-term maintenance of parks and green infrastructure.
Monitoring Weaknesses: Lack of real-time data on urban green cover hampers evidence-based policymaking. Satellite mapping has been initiated, but ground-level verification is weak.
Climate Adaptation vs. Mitigation: Programs focus more on mitigation (tree plantation, carbon sequestration) than on long-term adaptation measures like climate-proof housing and resilient livelihoods.

Way Forward

Establish a separate financial window under MoHUA to ensure long-term maintenance of parks, forests, and green infrastructure.
Nature-Based Urban Design: Expand beyond plantations to include wetlands, green roofs, vertical gardens, and ecological corridors.
Community-Centered Approach: Encourage citizen-led stewardship of local parks, drawing from Hyderabad’s CSR-driven model.
Technology Integration: Use satellite mapping, AI-driven monitoring, and GIS-based master plans for evidence-based decision-making.
Inclusive Planning: Ensure equitable distribution of green cover, particularly in slums and low-income settlements.
Policy Convergence: Integrate greening goals across AMRUT, PMAY-U, Smart Cities, and Climate Missions to avoid duplication and maximize efficiency.

References

Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation. (2022). Climate action plan for Bhopal. Smart Cities Mission. https://smartcities.gov.in
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. (2022). Urban greening guidelines 2022. Government of India. https://mohua.gov.in
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. (2023). Annual report 2022-23. Government of India. https://mohua.gov.in
NITI Aayog. (2021). Climate-resilient urban development report. Government of India. https://niti.gov.in
Press Information Bureau. (2022). Urban greening and afforestation initiatives. Government of India. https://pib.gov.in
World Health Organization. (2020). Urban green spaces and health. https://www.who.int

About the Contributor:

Aravindsamy R is a Public policy researcher at the Council of Independent Policy Researchers (CIPR) and a Research Intern at the IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi. He holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Madras, with research interests in rural development, Public policy, and social protection policies.

Acknowledgment: The author sincerely thanks Ms. Aasthaba Jadeja and the IMPRI team for their valuable support.

Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.