Tamil Nadu

The Tracker helps policymakers, researchers, and citizens assess Tamil Nadu’s climate performance, understand local vulnerabilities, and identify opportunities for low-carbon, climate-resilient development aligned with the State’s net-zero vision.

Yes. Most visualisations can be downloaded in tabular (Excel) or image (JPEG) formats for reference and further analysis.

Climate change refers to long-term alterations in temperature, precipitation, and weather patterns on Earth. It is largely driven by human activities that increase greenhouse gas concentrations, leading to global warming, extreme weather events, sea-level rise, and ecosystem disruptions.

Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), and fluorinated gases, trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. Their impacts are measured in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e) to compare their global warming potential.

GHGs cause long-term climate change by trapping heat, while air pollutants like particulate matter (PM₂.₅, PM₁₀), nitrogen oxides (NOₓ), and sulphur dioxide (SO₂) degrade air quality and cause immediate health and environmental harm.

Global warming refers to the rise in the Earth’s average surface temperature caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Climate change is driven by human-induced emissions from energy use, transport, industry, agriculture, and land-use changes, alongside natural processes like volcanic activity and solar variations.

Climate variability refers to short- to medium-term fluctuations in climate patterns, such as variations in rainfall or temperature, that occur naturally and differ from long-term climate change trends.

Extreme weather events are unusual or severe climatic occurrences such as heatwaves, floods, droughts, cyclones, or heavy rainfall that significantly deviate from historical averages.

Climate vulnerability is the degree to which people, ecosystems, or infrastructure are exposed and susceptible to the adverse effects of climate change, influenced by their sensitivity and adaptive capacity.

Climate resilience is the ability of communities, ecosystems, and systems to anticipate, absorb, and recover from climate-related shocks while maintaining essential functions and adapting to future risks.

Adaptation refers to actions that reduce vulnerability to current or expected climate impacts, such as building flood defences, conserving water, promoting climate-resilient crops, and protecting ecosystems.

Mitigation includes efforts to reduce or prevent greenhouse gas emissions or enhance carbon sinks that absorb these gases, through measures like renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable land use.

Decarbonisation is the process of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from key sectors—energy, industry, and transport—by shifting to clean energy, improving efficiency, and adopting low-carbon technologies.

Net zero means balancing greenhouse gas emissions with equivalent removals from the atmosphere, ensuring that total emissions are effectively zero through reduction and sequestration.

Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide in plants, soils, oceans, or geological formations to mitigate climate change.

Bottom-up climate action involves community-led and locally tailored solutions for mitigation and adaptation, feeding into broader national and global climate strategies.

NDCs are national climate action plans submitted by countries under the Paris Agreement, outlining targets and measures to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international treaty to address climate change. The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, builds on it by committing countries to limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

District Decarbonisation Plans outline emission profiles, sectoral strategies, and local interventions to reduce GHG emissions, enhance resilience, and align district actions with Tamil Nadu’s climate goals.

A just transition ensures that the shift to a low-carbon economy is fair and inclusive, protecting workers, communities, and livelihoods affected by changes in industries and energy systems.