Bengaluru- the Garden City, has different connotations for different people. It has always been a city of contrasts- lush gardens and concrete sprawls; bustling IT corridors and sleepy old neighbourhoods. For some, it’s the swift-paced Silicon Valley of India, while for others, it’s still home- the city of cool breeze, sudden rains, and lakes. I vividly remember spending February mornings in the early 2000s at my grandmother’s home, wrapped in the city’s fog, watching roses bloom in her garden. Back then, Bengaluru’s climate felt like a gift—one we took for granted. But in recent years, the balance has shifted. Water shortages, unbearable summers, choked roads, and declining air quality—what was once an occasional worry is now an everyday reality.
The city that once thrived on its unique climate is now struggling with it.
This transition isn’t just about Climate Change. It is also about real, everyday challenges like water shortages in summers, forcing residents to depend on tankers; roads getting flooded after a day’s downpour; and rising temperatures, making lives harder outdoors. However, when we discuss climate actions, it is often stereotyped as only Greenhouse Gas emissions and large-scale policies like Action Plans and summits, overlooking these immediate, local problems that affect people’s lives directly.
The Governance Challenge in Climate Action
Addressing these real-world challenges is the core principle of any governance system. However urban climate governance is very complex. It requires multiple sectors and agencies that are working in silos currently. Addressing Bengaluru’s climate risks means connecting the dots between the City Corporation, and departments like electricity, storm water, transport, and more. Take the 2022 urban floods; a quick response would’ve required bringing together stormwater departments, road authorities, and urban planners in real time. However, more often than not, systemic responses remain reactive rather than preventive. Climate measures are often triggered after disasters rather than being embedded into day-to-day governance.
What Needs to Change?
Policies exist, but implementation is where the real challenge lies. Bureaucratic delays, limited climate funding, and—most critically—unclear accountability slow the progress. Climate action doesn’t sit neatly within one department, making it difficult to define leadership. Is it the urban planning bodies, the environmental departments, or municipal authorities? When coordination and roles aren’t clearly defined, responsibility often gets passed around rather than owned. Without sustained commitment, even the best policies risk stagnation.
However, Bengaluru now has a Climate Action Plan (BCAP) and a Climate Action Cell (BCAC) under BBMP—a structured roadmap and a unit that moves beyond planning into execution. By capturing the benefits of top-down and bottom-up approaches- the implementation of this plan tries to bring an overall perspective.
The Road Ahead
For the right launch of climate plans into implementation- it requires a culture of collaboration, accountability and long-term commitment across government bodies, businesses and citizens alike; rather than just the intent. The city now has a vision. The challenge, and opportunity, is to ensure every stakeholder actively contributes to turning that vision into a lived reality.
Bengaluru isn’t waiting for a perfect solution. It’s moving forward, step by step, building a model of what an inclusive, adaptive, and resilient urban future can look like.
Sample blog for testing (Slide 2 of 3)
What Needs to Change?
Policies exist, but implementation is where the real challenge lies. Bureaucratic delays, limited climate funding, and—most critically—unclear accountability slow the progress. Climate action doesn’t sit neatly within one department, making it difficult to define leadership. Is it the urban planning bodies, the environmental departments, or municipal authorities? When coordination and roles aren’t clearly defined, responsibility often gets passed around rather than owned. Without sustained commitment, even the best policies risk stagnation.
However, Bengaluru now has a Climate Action Plan (BCAP) and a Climate Action Cell (BCAC) under BBMP—a structured roadmap and a unit that moves beyond planning into execution. By capturing the benefits of top-down and bottom-up approaches- the implementation of this plan tries to bring an overall perspective.
The Road Ahead
For the right launch of climate plans into implementation- it requires a culture of collaboration, accountability and long-term commitment across government bodies, businesses and citizens alike; rather than just the intent. The city now has a vision. The challenge, and opportunity, is to ensure every stakeholder actively contributes to turning that vision into a lived reality.
Bengaluru isn’t waiting for a perfect solution. It’s moving forward, step by step, building a model of what an inclusive, adaptive, and resilient urban future can look like.
