‘Strong Policy, Visible Action’: How Tamil Nadu Is Tackling Climate Risks

It has been just more than a month since Cyclone Ditwah flooded large parts of Chennai, killed at least four people and destroyed crops across more than 2.11 lakh hectares in Tamil Nadu. But beyond the immediate damage, the disaster has also brought into sharp focus how prepared Indian states really are for a future of climate extremes. In this interview, CarbonCopy speaks to Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forests, about how Tamil Nadu has tried to get ahead of that curve through the Tamil Nadu Green Climate Company (TNGCC), a state-run climate finance and governance platform that is now mobilising thousands of crores for mangroves, urban resilience, green jobs and decarbonisation. Recently named a UNEP Champion of the Earth for 2025, Sahu explains how the state is using law, public funding and international finance to turn climate plans into projects on the ground.

How did Tamil Nadu build TNGCC and create a state-level model for climate governance and finance?

When we began our work on climate change here in Tamil Nadu, we realised that if you really want to make something very impactful, you need to have two or three important things. 

One is you need to have very strong policy support. Climate action involves governments, communities, NGOs and international agencies. You need a strong policy that considers all these stakeholders’ concerns. So we worked on a strong policy. 

We were also very clear from the very beginning that policy should lead to action. Our chief minister also has given a call to action, saying that you make sure that whatever policy we make, it is realised on the ground. 

Third, we needed a financial instrument to fund the action. So we decided that it is important for us to have an apex body, which coordinates climate work across departments and provides leadership. Which is how we set up the Tamil Nadu Green Climate Company (TNGCC). 

We were able to work closely with the government of Tamil Nadu and the central government. It is important that the government finances initial action. And then you need to build trust in the system. You have to demonstrate that you are serious and can deliver on ground. Only then can, funds can come from other sources, which is actually happening right now. 

So first the Tamil Nadu government made an announcement that they would allocate ₹500 crore for climate action over a period of five years. We then issued a detailed government order defining how TNGCC would function, how its board would operate and how funds would be used for greening Tamil Nadu, climate resilience and mangroves.

By the second year, we were able to launch four climate missions. The initial funding of ₹75 crore from the Tamil Nadu government enabled us to roll out. Once the partners, agencies, and stakeholder departments realised that things are moving, they wanted to become a part of it. So, that's when we got the funding from the World Bank for one of our missions, TN Shore [focused on coastal restoration], and we were able to get about more than ₹1,675 crore to do the climate resilience project. Strong policy, visible implementation and credible partnerships helped us mobilise both public and international climate finance.

You’ve described how Tamil Nadu built the policy and finance backbone for climate action. How is that filtering down to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)? What kinds of green business models are emerging?

MSMEs are central to Tamil Nadu’s goal of becoming a one-trillion-dollar economy by 2030. So while the MSME department handles their empowerment, our role is to embed sustainability in that growth.

A major focus is solarisation. Through the state’s green energy company, we are working with MSMEs to shift to solarisation.

Initiatives such as waste water recycling, capacity building, skill development have also been taken up by the government departments concerned. For example, we have a flagship scheme called Naan Mudhalvan, under which a number of young people are being trained to be able to contribute to the MSME sector and help it grow sustainably. 

If MSMEs are where this green transition is playing out, what does that mean for jobs? A UNEP report says Tamil Nadu’s climate mission could create 2.5 million jobs. Where will those come from?

Most of the jobs will be coming from Green Tamil Nadu Mission. In fact, they have already come in. For instance, in the past four-and-a-half years, the government of Tamil Nadu has planted 11.5 crore trees. All these trees and saplings are raised through 1,200 nurseries. So, we are creating nurseries at the village level, at the block level and at the district level. When you create nurseries, local people are employed. When we talk about 2.5 million jobs, they are man days. 

It's basically ensuring that daily wage is available to locals raising these saplings in the nurseries, maintaining them, transporting them and planting them. They also have to ensure the saplings remain pest free. 

We have also created something called the 1,000 micro-forests within industrial complexes. These are a thousand kurungadu, which means small industrial plantations. 

The state government has also set up hundred maragatha pooncholai, which are village woodlots. There is a lot of pressure on our forests for grazing, for timber, for firewood. So we decided to create these small woodlots next to villages, which we hand over to panchayats for locals to use.

We have restored about 1,243 hectares of plantations, mangrove plantations and 2,490 hectares of new plantations have already been created. 

And what is the long term sustainability of these jobs? 

These are not regular jobs so it will be wrong to say that they will be sustained and it will be permanent. We are not talking about jobs, we are talking about the man days that we are creating. They will continue because the green Tamil Nadu mission is to raise the green cover of the state from 23.7% to 33%. We still have six or seven more years of work to go. So the scale of work will continue to grow.

Much of this job creation is coming from plantation and restoration work, including mangroves. How will Tamil Nadu balance mangrove protection with infrastructure growth?

I think it is very important for us to provide legal protection to mangroves because then it is not easy to divert or cut them. Most of the mangroves in Tamil Nadu are legally protected. We do have mangroves in the wetlands and other areas that are not under the forest department. But we are mapping them and ideally, a state should strive to provide legal protection. Tamil Nadu has doubled its mangrove cover to 9,039 hectares in 2024 from 4,500 hectares in 2021, as per the state’s forest definition. 

Studies from Anna University and CSTEP warn that up to 7–8% of Chennai could be inundated by 2040 and as much as 16–17% by 2100 because of sea-level rise and extreme rainfall, threatening a million people and critical infrastructure. What plans is the state putting in place to protect the city?

These are predictions based on models. Each institution is now doing its own modelling, which is good. They alert us on the scale of preparation for emergencies like this. So, for Chennai, our goal is to make the city as resilient as possible. We have to bring down emissions. We need to be ready for both adaptation and mitigation.

And it is possible for us to do it. So, what are some of the initiatives we are undertaking? I think adaptation is very important. So in the state of Tamil Nadu, we are creating a number of bio-shields in Cuddalore and Tuticorin.

Chennai does not have that kind of a bio-shield protection. We do not have the mangrove cover. So we need to create resilient infrastructure. The Greater Chennai Corporation recently concluded major storm water drain infrastructure work. The city has also prepared its first-ever climate action plan, which includes urban greening, resilient infrastructure, creation of sponge parks and protection of water bodies. All these elements have been brought together in the Chennai district climate action plan, which is science-led and already under implementation.

Beyond cities, how is Tamil Nadu protecting fragile ecosystems like the Ooty biosphere reserve from plastic pollution?

The plastic ban in the Nilgiris has been effective largely because the local community has embraced it as a people’s movement for more than two decades. We have set up plastic check posts at the two entry points into the district. At these check posts, the car is stopped, plastic bottles are collected for recycling and visitors are informed about the ban. This applies to the district, not the entire biosphere.

Some tourists still litter because the ban on multi-layer packaging is still not enforced. Only single-use plastic is banned. The district administration has also taken two, three other steps.

For example, they have created water ATMs where people can fill up the water bottles. One-litre plastic bottles are not allowed, while 25-litre containers with high recycling value are permitted. 

Nilgiris district also has an active e-pass system. Visitors have to register themselves on a website and obtain an e-pass before making the trip. That is helping cut the emissions, and reduce traffic jams.

But we also have a long-term plan for Nilgiris. It is one of the four districts in Tamil Nadu which is looking to decarbonise. We have already completed a greenhouse gas inventory. We have a decarbonisation plan, which includes green mobility, green energy and community-led action. We are setting up a project management office that will take the plan forward, alongside similar efforts in Coimbatore, Virudhunagar and Ramanathapuram.

Beyond individual landscapes like the Nilgiris, what is Tamil Nadu’s long-term strategy for biodiversity protection?

When it comes to biodiversity, we need to look at legal protection because that is something that cannot be easily tampered with. In the past five years or so we have notified eight new wildlife conservation reserves, which includes the Agasthyamalai Elephant Conservation Sanctuary. This is significant because it marks one of the largest recent expansions of protected areas under the Wildlife Protection Act in India. This also includes three new bird sanctuaries — the Vellode Bird Sanctuary, Kazhuveli Bird Sanctuary and the Dhanushkodi Bird Sanctuary.

We have the Nilgiri Tahr Project [Tamil Nadu’s five-year initiative to conserve Nilgiri Tahr, the state animal through measures like habitat restoration and reintroduction], which is the first-of-its-kind in India. We have notified the Dugong Conservation Reserve and the Slender Loris Conservation Reserve. And for each of these reserves, we also have brought an Endangered Species Conservation Fund. We have listed out endangered species to be notified or worked upon or launch special projects for them.

We will have the first meeting of the Endangered Species Conservation Governing Body this month. Overall, our approach is comprehensive, inclusive and grounded in science and law.

How is technology like AI and thermal cameras being used on the ground to manage forests and reduce human–wildlife conflict?

I will start with Hosur, because you spoke about crop damage and working with the local farmers. If you look at Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri, these two districts in Tamil Nadu, they witness seasonal migration of elephants who migrate from Karnataka and come to our state in search of ragi crops, which are grown by farmers widely in that area. It is impossible to stop that many elephants from getting into the farmers' fields. We have not had much success in the past with manual efforts. So, in Hosur, we have set up an artificial-intelligence-enabled control room that is connected to field stations, where thermal cameras and thermal drones are being deployed.

They give us information about the movement of elephants much in advance. So we are able to safeguard the elephants. If the elephants enter, we have put up a steel wire rope, which has been studied by institutions like IIT Chennai. It is a strong rope that acts as a wall between the forest and the farmland.

So elephants do come, but they have not been able to break the steel wire rope. There are some areas where the steel wire rope is yet to be installed, and we are in the process of doing so.The same rope is being deployed in Coimbatore as well. 

In Madukkarai, a large number of elephants cross two railway tracks that pass through a forest. In order to stop that, we have erected 12 towers, and those towers are connected to a control room, and artificial intelligence is being used to detect elephant movement well in advance, and pass on the information to the train drivers so they can slow down. 

Another example is Gudalur, which is a large area. You have tea growing there, you have rubber plantations, banana plantations, cardamom, and coffee. People also live there so you have encroachments. It also has a forest area. This makes it a hotspot of human-wildlife conflict.

We have installed these AI towers in Gudalur as well, and now we are generating real-time alerts about elephant activity. All measures are taken with the region in mind because different regions require different kinds of intervention.