Hi, it's Frieda Pinter here, guest hosting today.

Now here's a talk from the Countdown Global Launch event, given by Clean Energy Executive Varun Sivaram.

This one is definitely personal.

India has 21 of the 30 most polluted cities in the world.

I am from India.

And information like this can make you feel very down and out and very bleak and like all hope has been lost.

But then you have humans like Varun Sibharam who come along and show you that it's not all over yet,

that there is a solution. If only we take actionable change at the right time, which is now.

He has some fantastic ideas to share, and I think this one is a must here.

The air smelled smoky and sulfurous.

I just stepped off a rickety train to Korba, deep in the Indian state of Chathisgar, and home to a dozen coal

plants, and India's largest open-pit coal mine, a literal hellscape, complete with

infernal fires that burn 24-7. But in Corba, coal is life. Most people I talk to accepted that the

coal economy powers their livelihoods, but it is slowly killing them. Here's a community next door to a coal plant.

They wake every morning to homes coated in a fresh layer of ash from the smoke that the plant

belches.

Corba is one of the most critically polluted places on the planet.

And it's not just coal country that's hurting.

All of India has a deadly addiction to fossil fuels. India's home to 22 of

the world's 30 most polluted places on the planet. In Delhi, the capital, residents lose 9.4

years off their life expectancy on average. In 2020, the sky's briefly cleared during the coronavirus

lockdown. As cars stayed off the roads, factory shuttered, and power plants ramped down.

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