The current state of our planet—marked by rapid climate change and increasingly evident global warming—is one of the most pressing concerns facing humanity today.

As a young and developing nation, India stands at a critical juncture, balancing its aspirations for rapid economic growth with the urgent need for environmental sustainability. The goal of becoming a five-trillion-dollar economy by the late 2020s, and progressing toward a ten-trillion-dollar economy by 2032, will require transformative reforms in regulations, labour laws, privatization of public enterprises, and massive investments in infrastructure. However, it is essential that this growth is not achieved at the cost of our climate. Striking this balance is a complex challenge—one that demands coordinated efforts from both public and private sectors.

In this context, the DST Centre of Excellence in Climate Modeling was established at IIT Delhi in 2017 with support from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The Centre was conceived to address critical climate challenges facing India and the surrounding region.

Over time, the scope of the Centre has expanded. Today, it serves as a Centre of Excellence for Climate Information, focused on generating actionable intelligence to combat climate change and global warming, while advancing our understanding of the complex climate system. Our team is uniquely interdisciplinary, comprising faculty and students from atmospheric and oceanic sciences, fluid mechanics and heat transfer, artificial intelligence and machine learning, optimization and operations research, sequential decision-making, and economics and business administration. This diverse expertise allows us to approach climate change not as a problem confined to one domain, but as a multifaceted challenge requiring integrated solutions.