India’s climate challenge cannot be solved in conference rooms: Tata Trusts CEO

Tata Trusts CEO emphasizes that India's climate challenge requires grassroots action, not just discussions in conference rooms.

India’s battle with climate change needs to be fought in everyday decisions of people and cannot be impactful if discussed in conference rooms, said Siddharth Sharma, CEO of Tata Trusts.

“India’s climate challenge will not be solved in conference rooms like this alone. It will be solved in board offices, and engineering departments, in health facilities and school systems, in transport authorities and housing boards. It will be solved and rooted in the everyday decisions that shape how our cities actually function, how footpaths are designed, how building codes are enforced, how water is priced, how waste is managed, how trees are protected, how mangroves are restored, and how profit goods are financed,” he said, while delivering the key note address on urban sustainability at the Mumbai Climate week on Tuesday (February 17, 2026).

He further said that efforts towards climate adaptation would “operationally and morally fail if it does not reach informal workers, informal settlements, women, children and elderly first.” He expressed concern over the fact that in many Indian cities, air pollution is treated like a background noise as it has been normalised. 

Mr. Sharma sought alignment between governments, philanthropists, businesses, researchers, and communities around a small set of priorities that can be scaled up over time on the event of the first Mumbai Climate Week.