India, Sept. 11 -- Environmental debate is often framed as a zero-sum choice: build more or breathe better; expand industry or stabilise the climate. This framing is misleading. India's true challenge is not to pick one objective over another, but to pursue three simultaneously: Expand material production, clean its air, and decarbonise its economy.

Environmental problems operate at different scales. Air pollution is a local health crisis; economic growth is a national necessity for jobs and infrastructure; and the climate crisis is a global, cumulative threat. These layers overlap; failing to act on them together risks failure on all three fronts.

Energy and materials sit at the centre of this tension. Steel, cement, and aluminium are ...