Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the New Delhi-based research and advocacy organisation, is widely recognised as one of India’s most influential public interest research institutions working in the field of environment and development. CSE searches for solutions that reconcile economic development with environmental conservation; solutions that people, businesses and communities can implement themselves. CSE also pushes the government to create policy and frameworks in which people can act on their own.
Over the last 30 years, CSE has used its skills in information collection, collation, research, analysis and communication to drive change in both policy as well as practice. From publishing the Citizens’ Reports on the State of India’s Environment way back in the 1980s that helped initiate a nation-wide environmental movement and making rainwater harvesting a catchword in the 1990s, to pushing for stringent vehicular emission standards, introducing clean fuels to reduce urban air pollution, rating industries on environment performance and articulating the position (based on justice and equity) of the developing countries on climate change, CSE has challenged India to confront its problems and inspired it to take action. Change must be complemented by values and principles – the knowledge CSE generates is embedded within a set of principles which advocate social justice, respect for people’s knowledge and democracy.