Powering a Sustainable Future: Environmental Literacy as a Foundation for India’s Energy Transition
Author: Riddhima Nag
According to most metrics, India's energy transition is progressing well. As of July 31, 2026, the country had achieved an installed capacity of 300.50 GW in non-fossil capacity, which accounts for more than 54 percent of its overall installed capacity (Energetica India, 2026). In March 2026, the Union Cabinet further elevated its goals. Under the new Nationally Determined Contribution, India pledged to decrease GDP emissions intensity by 47 percent compared to 2005 levels and to attain 60 percent non-fossil installed capacity by 2035 (Prime Minister's Office, 2026).
India’s energy transition involves both human beings and power plants. Households have to opt for rooftop solar installations, consumers need to select energy-efficient appliances, farmers ought to rely on solar pumps and citizens must advocate for policies that enable all this. This article posits that a concrete understanding of environmental issues is crucial for India's energy transition. However, the current measurement of this understanding is too limited, its teaching is too theoretical and its dissemination is too uneven, especially concerning gender, region and class.
Re-thinking Environmental Literacy
Environmental literacy is commonly defined as the understanding, attitudes and abilities that empower individuals to comprehend environmental systems and engage responsibly with them. In India, it is primarily evaluated through national surveys, which present an intriguing conundrum. According to the latest Yale–CVoter survey, half of Indian adults reported knowing very little about global warming. However, after receiving a brief definition, 84 percent acknowledged that it is occurring and 84 percent claimed to have personally felt its impacts (Leiserowitz et al., 2026). (See figure 1)
Climate Awareness in India
Understanding Global Warming
Public awareness, personal experience and perceptions of global warming among Indian adults.
Percentage of Indian adults (%)
Figure: Awareness and perceptions of global warming among Indian adults.
This discrepancy raises the possibility that questionnaires are gauging word familiarity rather than comprehension of a phenomenon. This reading is supported by Yale's own follow-up study. Heat, water, and pollution were the most often mentioned associations among respondents who could link anything to global warming (Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 2026). People's experiences help them understand climate change. Even while a farmer may never use the formal phrase ‘jalvayu parivartan’, they may be fully aware of how the monsoon and sowing seasons have changed. This experience knowledge is likely to be underestimated when measuring literacy using scientific vocabulary, particularly in rural and non-English-speaking cultures.
However, there is a second gap that is significant. Causal comprehension and experiential awareness are not the same thing. Just 54% of Indians believe that human action is the primary cause of global warming, whereas 36% believe that natural change is the primary cause (Leiserowitz et al., 2026). This causal relationship is especially important for the energy transition. Furthermore, what information is overlooked can be explained using an ecofeminist perspective. According to Vandana Shiva (1988), mainstream development theories have overlooked the rich ecological knowledge that rural Indian women possess from managing food, fuel, water and forests. Bina Agarwal (1992) maintained that the material, gendered division of labor is the source of this knowledge rather than any innate connection between women and nature. When taken as a whole, these viewpoints imply that women possess a great deal of the experiential environmental information that is overlooked by normal literacy tests, and that this is a result of their social positions rather than a necessary characteristic.
From Knowing to Doing
Knowledge does not always result in action, even when it is present. Kollmuss and Agyeman (2002) demonstrated that pro-environmental behavior is not solely dependent on awareness but also on values, habits, social norms and external constraints like cost and access. Stern (2000) also contended that when contextual obstacles are minimal, attitudes have the greatest influence on behavior.
Evidence from India supports this. Almost 15,000 houses were included in the India Residential Energy Survey. Only 25% of households were aware of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency's star labeling scheme, with higher awareness in wealthier and better educated states. According to Agrawal et al. (2020), 40% of consumers stated that the cost of appliances was their top consideration when making a purchase. Adoption followed affordability. Nearly 90% of homes had at least one LED light, but there was little uptake of other energy-efficient products including fans, TVs and coolers. The same pattern is seen in the fuel choices made by households. Fewer than half of Indians have access to clean cooking fuel, and around 68.1 crore people still depend on traditional biomass. A study of rural households found that fuel choices depend on a combination of education, income, assets, the cost of LPG refills and the time spent collecting fuel; it concluded that policy must address these factors together rather than relying on awareness alone (Sharma & Dash, 2022, as cited in Swarnakar & Chauhan, 2022). The main policy lesson is that while environmental knowledge is important, it is not enough.
Government Initiatives: Promises and Performance
There is a strong framework for environmental education in India. Environmental education was made mandatory in schools in 2003 after the Supreme Court's 1991 ruling in M. C. Mehta v. Union of India mandated that it be taught at all educational levels. This was reaffirmed by the National Education Policy 2020, which demanded that courses incorporate sustainability principles. The Ministry of Education currently operates Eco Clubs under Mission LiFE via a national portal that is structured around seven topics, one of which is energy conservation (Ministry of Education, n.d.).
Delivery has been inconsistent in practice. Hands-on environmental learning requires laboratories, electricity, outdoor space and qualified teachers, all of which are lacking in many government schools. Additionally, studies have shown that students who are worried about climate change frequently struggle to differentiate between sustainable development, environmental education, and climate change education, indicating inadequacies in curriculum design (Goel et al., 2023). Instead of measuring changes in behavior or energy use, a large portion of program activity is recorded as outputs, such as pledges made, events held and photos submitted. This emphasis is reflected in official reporting. Over 1.34 crore students participated in environmental education programs and 1.14 lakh eco-clubs were registered across 23 states, according to the government's review of twelve years of environmental action. However, it provides no indication of whether this involvement altered how students or their families use energy (Press Information Bureau, 2026).
The mismatch between goal and delivery is also evident in energy initiatives. Originally intended to add 30,800 MW by 2022, PM-KUSUM was introduced in 2019 to assist farmers in adopting solar energy. With a new goal of 34,800 MW, the deadline was later extended to March 2026
(Angel One, 2025). Across components, progress has been uneven. As of April 2026, only 1,202 MW had been placed under Component A out of 10,000 MW that had been approved; in contrast, freestanding solar pumps under Component B had reached around 10.9 lakh out of a target of approximately 13.07 lakh (India Brand Equity Foundation [IBEF], 2026). (See Figure 2)
Renewable Energy | India
PM-KUSUM: Progress Against Sanctioned Targets
Share of sanctioned targets achieved across different components, as of 30 April 2026.
Share of sanctioned target achieved (%)
PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana has grown rapidly, but it too faces execution problems. Analysts observe that the primary obstacle has changed from funding to distribution companies' limited capability, and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has acknowledged complaints over inaccurate billing following installation (Saur Energy International, 2026). When combined, these examples demonstrate an ambitious policy architecture that is inconsistently implemented and infrequently assessed in terms of whether or not people's perceptions and behaviors truly change.
Who is left behind?
Access and literacy gaps follow well-known paths of disadvantage. Less than half of the people in Bihar (45 percent), Madhya Pradesh (47 percent), Odisha (48 percent), and West Bengal (49 percent) believe that human activity is to blame for global warming, according to Yale's 2026 state-level estimates (Goddard et al., 2026).
The issue is made worse by economic insecurity. More than half of Indians claim their salary does not meet their necessities, and two-thirds suffer power outages on a daily basis. According to Leiserowitz et al. (2026), just 13% of people claim to have solar panels that provide electricity. Renters, slum dwellers and households in Kutcha houses are structurally excluded from rooftop solar energy since it implies a roof, ownership and financial availability. These gaps may also be hidden by official statistics. Near-universal village electrification can coexist with many unconnected residences since a village is considered electrified if at least 10% of its households get power and public spaces like schools and panchayat offices are linked (Swarnakar & Chauhan, 2022).
Gender transcends all of these boundaries. The majority of domestic energy use, especially cooking, is managed by women, who also endure the health consequences of solid fuel indoor air pollution. However, they continue to be underrepresented in both local energy decision-making and the clean energy workforce. The PM Ujjwala Yojana experience demonstrates how availability without affordability fails to alter everyday practice, since many households continued to burn firewood after acquiring LPG connections because refills were too expensive. Young people create an opportunity as well as a gap. They are systematically reached by schools, but frequently with exam-focused material that is unrelated to the energy decisions they observe at home.
Many Hands: Institutions and Communities
To close these gaps, multiple actors must collaborate. Through initiatives like school energy audits, solar demonstrations and projects where students monitor their household's electricity bills, schools and colleges can transition from textbook learning to applied learning so that teachings are applied at home. Urban local bodies and panchayats have the most influence over daily energy decisions. Gram sabhas can serve as venues for the planning of community solar projects, the explanation of plans, and the resolution of application obstacles. What this may accomplish is demonstrated by the Odanthurai panchayat in Tamil Nadu, which paid 35% of the cost of a 350 kW wind turbine and currently sells around 30% of the electricity produced to the state electricity board, earning almost ₹20 lakh annually.
Government outreach frequently lacks the reliable networks that civil society organizations provide. SEWA's work on clean energy livelihoods and Barefoot College's training of rural women as solar engineers demonstrate that literacy increases most quickly when people are viewed as knowledge producers rather than message receivers. This is corroborated by Agarwal's (2010) research on community forestry organizations. It discovered that when women had a genuine voice in decision-making rather than just a token presence, governance outcomes improved. Peer standards that make sustainable decisions seem commonplace can be established via self-help groups, farmer-producer organizations and youth clubs.
Policy Recommendations
This analysis leads to five measures.
India should first expand the scope of environmental literacy assessments. To ensure that policy draws on what communities already know, national and state surveys should be created in local languages and record both scientific terms and experiential knowledge.
Environmental education needs to be implemented and adequately funded. Curriculum mandates should be accompanied by funding for government school infrastructure and teacher training, and behavioral results rather than event counts should be used to assess Mission LiFE efforts.
Affordability and awareness should go hand in hand. Campaigns for energy-efficient appliances and rooftop solar should be integrated with bulk purchasing, on-bill financing and community or shared solar models that include low-income homes and renters, building on the LED experience.
Trustworthy local messengers like Krishi Vigyan Kendras, SHGs, and ASHA and Anganwadi workers should be used for outreach. Central and eastern states should be given priority and energy should be framed around issues that people already face, such as heat, air pollution and electricity bills.
The shift needs to take gender into account. This entails effective representation of women in panchayat-level energy planning, as well as specialized training, stipends, and job placement for women in clean energy. The public mandate is already in place: according to Leiserowitz et al. (2026), 95% of Indians support a national program that prioritizes training women and youth for jobs in renewable energy.
Conclusion
India can build clean energy infrastructure at record speed- the harder task is ensuring people understand, trust and share in that shift. Climate change is something that Indians are aware of. Even if they don't have the terminology that surveys look for, many people have firsthand experience with heat, water scarcity, and failing monsoons. Building on that lived knowledge, relating it to the causes and remedies of climate change and removing the obstacles that keep awareness from turning into action are the challenges. A transition built only for people will be fragile; one built with them, including the women, rural households and young people too often left at the margins, will last.
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