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Latest edition: September 2026. Covered from 1 June to 30 September 2026. Next edition, October 2026, publishes on 5 November 2026.

The monthly magazine

June 2026

4 lead articles · 28 new articles · 1 update

LeadPrelims and MainsClimate science: records, attribution and tipping points

Climate science in 2026: new scenarios, tipping points and the next IPCC report

The new emissions scenarios for the next assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published in April 2026, retire the worst case scenario, known as RCP8.5. In June a global report put human caused warming at 1.37°C in 2025, with the carbon budget for 1.5°C nearly spent.

LeadPrelims and MainsUNFCCC negotiations and the Paris framework

The Bonn climate talks: what India asked for

The mid year climate talks at Bonn, held from 8 to 18 June 2026, ended in gridlock over finance and trade. India used the session to press three demands before COP31 at Antalya.

LeadPrelims and MainsExtreme weather, monsoon and forecasting

Heat stress in India, and the cooling paradox

Studies published in June 2026 found that humid heat is spreading in India beyond the summer into the monsoon, and that India has more cities among the world's most heat vulnerable than any other country. India's peak power demand reached a record in May, much of it for cooling.

LeadPrelims and MainsCourts, tribunals and environmental jurisprudence

The Aravallis: a definition before the Supreme Court

By an order of 25 May 2026 the Supreme Court set up a High Powered Committee to review the definition of the Aravalli hills that it had accepted in November 2025, and barred fresh mining leases until a management plan is ready.

Environment and Disaster Management

1Protected areas and habitats

1.1Marine and coastal ecosystems

  • 1.1.1Great Nicobar projectNewPrelims and Mains

    The Great Nicobar project is a plan for an International Container Transshipment Port at Galathea Bay, a greenfield joint use airport, a township and a power plant on Great Nicobar Island.

  • 1.1.2Sand mining at ThottappallyNewPrelims and Mains

    The Kollam to Alappuzha coast is dense black sand rich in ilmenite, monazite, rutile, zircon and sillimanite.

  • 1.1.3Coastal adaptation: seawalls, mangroves and managed retreatNewMains

    Coastal protection has three options: hold the line with seawalls and groynes, retreat, or use ecosystems as the buffer.

2Biodiversity governance

2.1Human wildlife conflict and wildlife crime

  • 2.1.1Turtle trafficking by railNewPrelims and Mains

    Turtle trafficking by rail moves Indian softshell and flapshell turtles, Schedule I species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, from the Ganga and its tributaries in Uttar Pradesh in passenger luggage, with Madhya Pradesh as a transit corridor.

3Climate science

3.1Climate science: records, attribution and tipping points

  • 3.1.1Climate science in 2026: new scenarios, tipping points and the next IPCC reportLead

    The new emissions scenarios for the next assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published in April 2026, retire the worst case scenario, known as RCP8.5. In June a global report put human caused warming at 1.37°C in 2025, with the carbon budget for 1.5°C nearly spent.

  • 3.1.2Extreme event attributionNewPrelims and Mains

    Extreme event attribution is the science that estimates how much likelier, or how much more intense, climate change made a particular weather event.

3.2Extreme weather, monsoon and forecasting

  • 3.2.1Mission MausamNewPrelims and Mains

    Mission Mausam is the Ministry of Earth Sciences programme, launched in 2024, to widen India's observing network, sharpen its models and take up weather modification research.

4Climate negotiations and finance

4.1UNFCCC negotiations and the Paris framework

  • 4.1.1The Bonn climate talks: what India asked forLead

    The mid year climate talks at Bonn, held from 8 to 18 June 2026, ended in gridlock over finance and trade. India used the session to press three demands before COP31 at Antalya.

4.2Climate finance, carbon markets and carbon pricing

  • 4.2.1Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismNewPrelims and Mains

    The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is the European Union's charge on certain imports, paid by buying certificates that track the Union's carbon price.

4.3Mitigation: industry, methane and carbon removal

  • 4.3.1Biochar from crop residueNewPrelims and Mains

    Biochar is made by heating farm waste with little oxygen, leaving a carbon rich, porous material that decays very slowly in soil.

5Pollution

5.1Air pollution

5.2Water pollution and river rejuvenation

  • 5.2.1Urban River Management PlansNewPrelims and Mains

    Urban River Management Plans shift urban planning from city centric to river centric, a shift set out at the National Ganga Council in Kanpur in December 2019.

5.3Groundwater and water conservation

  • 5.3.1Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0NewPrelims and Mains

    The Jal Jeevan Mission is the central scheme for a functional tap water connection to every rural household.

  • 5.3.2Punjab's paddy and its groundwaterNewPrelims and Mains

    Paddy is a water hungry kharif crop: in Punjab it needs about 25 to 30 irrigation cycles a season.

5.4Chemicals, noise, light and soil pollution

6Conservation initiatives

6.1Sustainable agriculture

  • 6.1.1Fertiliser registration and nutrient use efficiencyNewPrelims and Mains

    New fertilisers are registered under the Fertiliser (Control) Order, 1985: a dossier, two season bio efficacy trials by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and State universities, and Central Fertiliser Committee review.

7Environmental law and institutions

7.1Courts, tribunals and environmental jurisprudence

  • 7.1.1The Aravallis: a definition before the Supreme CourtLead

    By an order of 25 May 2026 the Supreme Court set up a High Powered Committee to review the definition of the Aravalli hills that it had accepted in November 2025, and barred fresh mining leases until a management plan is ready.

  • 7.1.2Climate litigationNewPrelims and Mains

    Climate litigation is the use of courts to hold governments and companies to climate obligations.

7.2Rivers: sharing, linking and disputes

  • 7.2.1The Teesta and ChinaNewPrelims and Mains

    The Teesta is a river shared by India and Bangladesh, rising from Tso Lhamu lake in Sikkim.

  • 7.2.2Cauvery and MekedatuNewPrelims and Mains

    The Cauvery Water Management Authority implements the sharing of the river between Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry as fixed by the tribunal and modified by the Supreme Court in 2018.

  • 7.2.3The Tungabhadra and the Krishna awardNewPrelims and Mains

    The Tungabhadra is a tributary of the Krishna, formed where the Tunga and Bhadra, which rise in the Western Ghats, join near Shivamogga.

  • 7.2.4Farakka and the 1996 Ganges Water TreatyNewPrelims and Mains

    The Farakka Barrage, commissioned in 1975 on the Ganga in West Bengal, diverts water into the Bhagirathi Hooghly to keep Kolkata port navigable, a purpose inside India rather than at the border.

8Disaster Management

8.1Extreme weather, monsoon and forecasting

  • 8.1.1Heat stress in India, and the cooling paradoxLead

    Studies published in June 2026 found that humid heat is spreading in India beyond the summer into the monsoon, and that India has more cities among the world's most heat vulnerable than any other country. India's peak power demand reached a record in May, much of it for cooling.

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