The new environmentalism: Why sustainability must begin with inclusion

World Environment Day 2026 calls for a new environmentalism that links sustainable growth with inclusion, climate resilience and stronger governance

The World Environment Day, designated by the United Nations and observed on June 5, offers a moment each year to reflect on where we stand and where we must head. This year, as I write, my city Delhi is burning; it is a living inferno. We know increasing heat levels are because of climate change — that is now irrefutable. But it is equally, if not more, a product of the way we build our cities: The increasing use of concrete, the waste heat from vehicles on the roads and air conditioners in our rooms. We are also building without insulation, ventilation or shading to protect us from the scorching sun. All of this, combined with the absence of the natural cooling provided by trees and waterbodies — collateral damage caused by the building boom —makes heat a killer, quite literally. 

I explain this because it is time we set aside the meaningless question of environment versus development. We know that humans have made climate change into the catastrophe it is today, and we have done so in the name of development. Emission from the use of fossil fuels for energy, critical as it is for economic growth, livelihood and well-being, is “forcing” temperatures upwards and making weather systems spiral out of control. It is this very model of development that is on the line today. It has led to situations where we do not have clean water to drink or clean air to breathe. So, the challenge is to change how we develop and not reduce the debate to a meaningless anti-development tirade. 

After this is cleared up, we can move on to the next issue of how countries can “fix” local pollution issues but still add to global environmental challenges. 

Climate change is the clearest example, as are the vast quantities of waste and the growing demand for new minerals for the green transition. So, environmental management remains unresolved even where the sky is blue and the water is clear. This tells us that every country needs a new approach to environmentalism and that the old ways of doing things are too little, too late. 

Decades of work to improve the environment have taught us some important lessons. First: Sustainable growth is not possible without inclusive and affordable growth. In India, we know, to our cost and shame, that unless we provide mobility for all we cannot have clean air; without sanitation for all, we cannot have unpolluted rivers; and so on. We know that technocratic approaches will not fix the problem; the environment improves only when development works for all, including the poor. 

Second: We know that the environment is about natural resources — how we extract them and build economies from them. This applies as much to the old coal-gas economy as it does to the new green economy of solar panels and batteries, which requires extracting critical minerals, and also to the newer economy of artificial intelligence, which needs water and energy. Over the past decades, we have overused much of these natural resources; we have learnt to some extent how to make fishing, mining or forestry more sustainable, but progress remains limited. More importantly, we have not yet fully understood how to share the benefits with communities which own these natural resources; we just take their resources and make them poorer. In the coming decade, this imbalance of power must be fixed to achieve sustainability. 

Third: Environmentalism is also about institutions that can bring about this balance — between short-term and long-term objectives; and between the needs of industry or agriculture and the rights of communities. It is about decision making informed by the best available science, about accountable and open structures that allow us to understand the cost of development. But this is where we have really gone wrong, nationally and globally. We have disabled institutions of governance, regulation and for oversight, which is why we are where we are. 

The environmental challenge now hangs over everything that we value. Agriculture needs to be made productive yet sustainable while putting money in the hands of farmers. Conservation must build the economy of the poor so that they are custodians of the ecosystem. Water security must be ensured even in the times of drought and climate stress. We also need to find development pathways that can seriously reinvent growth without pollution and help the world combat climate change. 

The good news is that we know more today about what must be done differently than on any previous World Environment Day. This is why June 5, 2026, should be a new beginning: The start of a new practice of environmentalism, rooted in the politics of inclusive and affordable growth, which then is sustainable. 

---

The author is at the Centre for Science and Environment; sunita@cseindia.org, X: @sunitanar