OCTOBER 16, 2023
Mycelium is an ambitious initiative reshaping India’s approach to climate action by creating interconnected networks of local changemakers across the country. Launched by Vinuta Gopal, Brikesh Singh, and Sanjiv Gopal (Awardees 2022) as part of the Bangalore-based Asar and expanded through the Climate Breakthrough Award program, Mycelium focuses on state-level implementation where, as they put it, “the rubber hits the road.”
The Challenge
India’s current Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) are moving in the right direction but require greater ambition. Last-mile implementation remains the ‘achilles heel’ even where policy, political will, economic capacity, and technology align. The disconnect between national policy and local action remains stark, with climate discourse largely confined to English-speaking metropolitan circles and failing to resonate with regional communities.
The initiative recognizes that India’s rich diversity makes centralized planning ineffective. Traditional top-down approaches have struggled to address climate challenges at the state and local levels, where implementation is crucial. Moreover, the climate conversation has remained notably absent from regional media and local languages, creating a significant barrier to widespread public engagement and action.
The Initiative
Mycelium addresses these challenges through a dynamic, interconnected approach. First, it identifies diverse local actors working on climate and climate-adjacent issues—farmers, NGOs, policymakers, journalists, and citizen groups—who have the greatest stake in outcomes. Second, it nurtures and activates connections between these actors to amplify their impact beyond individual capabilities. Third, it builds communications capacity in regional languages by identifying local communicators and supporting networks with strategic communications.
The initiative’s success is already evident in specific projects. The Clean Air Collective, one of Mycelium’s early efforts, transformed a single organization’s idea into a collaborative project spanning 12 cities, involving over 30 civil society organizations and citizen groups. This resulted in partnerships with municipal corporations and state governments across multiple cities and generated over 1,000 news articles in four languages across five states.
The Vision
Mycelium aims to achieve ambitious targets, seeking to expand its network to 15 states and activate at least 1,000 climate champions across India. The initiative aims to ensure that at least four states expand their climate plans beyond India’s current commitments, with 500 local governance institutions implementing these enhanced plans.
There are challenges, including managing operations across different states, preventing partners from working in silos, sustaining trust-based networks over time, addressing variations in technical knowledge among partners, and ensuring sustainable funding flows. However, Mycelium’s approach of creating interconnected, locally-rooted networks offers a promising model for addressing climate change in diverse and complex societies where centralized planning alone may prove insufficient.