India: Environmental Law

As Indian cities hurtle toward rapid urban expansion, often celebrated in terms of GDP growth, infrastructure, and high-rise skylines, a quieter crisis unfolds at the edge of this development: the disappearance of urban wetlands.

The Public Law Practice Group at Dentons Link Legal presents this edition of the Environment Law Newsletter, highlighting recent legal and regulatory developments shaping India’s environmental landscape. As concerns over environmental degradation continue to intensify, this issue examines key ecological and compliance challenges across industries with significant environmental footprints, alongside broader developments in pollution control, conservation, and sustainable resource governance

Climate change today is no longer a mere policy dilemma or a matter confined to scientific discourse, it has firmly entered the domain of rights, law, and justice. Across jurisdictions, courts are being compelled to answer a profoundly consequential question: can corporations that substantially contribute to greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions be held legally liable for the harms their activities help create? In the Indian context, this question assumes particular urgency.

Airlines face mounting regulatory scrutiny as promotional sustainability claims fail to meet evidentiary standards set by advertising authorities and securities regulators. This analysis examines enforcement actions across the UK, EU, US, and India, revealing how the burden of proof has shifted from reactive challenge-response to proactive substantiation requirements before publication.

In a significant interim order impacting forest land disputes, urban development, and Transferable Development Rights (TDR) in Maharashtra, the Supreme Court has stayed the operation of the Bombay High Court’s judgment directing the release of approximately 193 acres of land at Manpada, Thane from acquisition under the Maharashtra Private Forests (Acquisition) Act, 1975.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (“MoEFCC”), through Notification dated 20.05.2026 published a draft notification proposing amendments to the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006, proposing extension of the validity period of environmental clearances granted to ports and harbours from the existing 10 (ten) years to 15 (fifteen) years, inviting comments from stakeholders within 60 (sixty) days from publication of the Draft EIA Notification i.e., 20.05.2026.

The interface between administrative authorization and criminal jurisdiction under special environmental statutes presents recurring challenges for trial courts and appellate forums alike.

When you’re building green tech and need people to buy into your sustainability story, you need proof. Real or not for just marketing hype. Now, proof recorded to prove reality. Enter green patents. They're also a scoreboard for your environmental innovation – and a signal to investors, customers and regulators that you're serious about change. This shows how innovative companies are leveraging their patent portfolios to build on their ESG stories and show impact in practice.

The Government of India is implementing the National Green Hydrogen Mission (“NGHM”), with an objective to make India a global hub of production, usage and export of green hydrogen and its derivatives. A global demand of over 100 (hundred) million metric tonnes of green hydrogen and its derivatives is expected to emerge by 2030.