Bengaluru Sustainability Forum New Site

A place for collaboration, knowledge, skill exchange and discussions

Bengaluru Sustainability Forum brings institutions together to spark dialogue, build connections, and collaborate for a sustainable future.

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Watch this space for the Small Grants Programme 2026 call + details.

Our new website is now available!

Take a look at our refreshed events calender.

focus areas

AIR

QUALITY

Bengaluru has the dubious distinction of being the only Indian city where vehicles contribute most to air pollution. The city’s population is a little over 14 million and has over 12 million registered vehicles. As Bengaluru grows, so does the challenge of keeping its air clean.

URBAN

BIODIVERSITY

Before it became one of the world’s fastest-growing urban centres, Bengaluru was famous as the garden city, with deep ecological roots: from rocky hillocks and forests to its once-extensive network of lakes, wetlands, tree-lined boulevards, and parks. Can we salvage our urban biodiversity?

URBAN

CLIMATE CHANGE

Like many fast-growing urban centres, Bengaluru sits at the intersection of multiple pressures with climate change definitely one of them. It has manifested as urban heat islands where dense construction absorbs and radiates more heat than natural landscapes. As a result, the city is heating up, trapping more heat and triggering a chain reaction. How do we prevent it from worsening?

URBAN

MOBILITY

Since 2011, Bengaluru’s population has grown by over 40% with 2031 projections at 20 million. Vehicular traffic is a direct consequence of this – with nearly 50 lakh two wheelers and as many as 1,243 daily additions. Despite having a large public bus fleet of over 6,500 buses, the city’s traffic jams are among the worst in India. Is there a solution?

URBAN

PLANNING

From Kempegowda’s 16th-century mud fort with markets, Bengaluru became a British military cantonment with a dual city structure. In the late 20th century, following the IT boom Bengaluru expanded significantly, outpacing government capacity, and depleting natural assets. Does a city’s growth come at the price of sustainability?

URBAN WASTE

MANAGEMENT

With per capita waste of 500 g per day – and 5,000 tonnes of daily waste generated – it is a small surprise that Bengaluru was ranked the 5th dirtiest city in the Swachh Survekshan 2025 survey. Keeping it clean is an army of 20,000 pourakarmikas but how can we fix the problem that waste has become.

URBAN

WATER

As a land-locked metropolis with no perennial water source, Bengaluru has been sustained by a unique system of interconnected tanks, feeding people, agriculture and everyday life. Rapid urbanisation, shrinking lake systems, and over-exploited groundwater have unsettled natural cycles bringing new pressures to the city. How do we prevent drying up?

FOCUS AREAS

The Bengaluru Sustainability Forum is an inter-institutional initiative to foster conversations, build bridges and encourage interdisciplinary collaborations working towards Bengaluru’s sustainable future.

Urban spaces around the world are exploding at a rapid rate. By 2030, 60% of the global population is likely to be living in cities. Bengaluru is projected to be at the forefront of this growth – with 8.5% increase in economic output. Such high growth, though economically beneficial, has negative repercussions on human health and diversity of non-human creatures that inhabit the city.

What must we do to allow all creatures a life in dignity with access to clean water, proper waste management, healthy air to breathe and move around freely? Along the lines of the 17 sustainable development goals formulated by the United Nations in September 2015, Bengaluru Sustainability Forum is a space for compelling discussions, fruitful knowledge exchange and budding collaborations with the idea to make Bengaluru a sustainable city.

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conversations & collaborations

Eco Reels - the Climate Charche Edition

Recently concluded climate-focused, multi-format film festival in collaboration with Kriti Film Club.

The Climate Chache Podcast

Listen to the podcast series that examines current concerns about the city’s sustainability and its future from diverse stakeholders.

Webinar: What’s in Your City’s Air?

A discussion on pollutant types, health implications, AQI methodology, major urban sources, and policies like NCAP and Bengaluru’s Clean Air Action Plan.

Reading

for Change

Books serve as the entry point to explore the UN SDGs as facets of our daily lives and not as distant landmarks in space and time.

Urban

Ecology

An exhibition on the relationship between cities and biodiversity curated by BSF, Mihir Kulkarni (IIHS) and the IIHS Library team.

Climate Charche Lecture Series

Designed for architecture students, to understand the interlinkages between the city’s different systems, and to highlight the need for sustainable choices in their future practice.

small grants
programme

Started in 2018, the Small Grants Programme has funded over 40 projects which have helped connect science and research done in the city of Bengaluru with the actual situation on the ground, involving as many stakeholders and sections of the society as possible.