This week, we had the privilege of hosting Dr Bart van den Hurk (Co-Chair) and Sherine El-Wattar (Technical Support Unit) from IPCC Working Group II at our New Delhi office. Over two days, we convened closed-door discussions with researchers, businesses, policymakers and practitioners on the questions shaping the future of climate adaptation. Adaptation is no longer about being prepared for the future, it is about making decisions under uncertainty. Two themes ran through the conversations: 1. The first was overshoot. Adaptation needs won't stay the same across warming pathways. If temperatures rise past the Paris goals before coming back down, some impacts may turn out to be temporary while others permanently change ecosystems and livelihoods. Those are very different problems to plan and invest for. 2. The second was making climate science genuinely useful to the people making decisions. Businesses need information that is granular, sector-specific and actionable enough to assess physical risks and guide long-term investment. Closing that gap will take researchers, industry and policymakers working more closely together. Global assessments are an invaluable evidence base, but their value depends on whether they can shape decisions nationally and locally, and that was the thread running through both discussions. As India faces more frequent and intense climate extremes, these conversations only become more relevant. Producing better climate science is one part of the challenge. Making sure it reaches the governments, businesses, cities and communities that have to act on it is the other. Thank you to everyone who joined and shared their perspectives, and to Bart and Sherine for engaging so openly with India's research and policy community. Arunabha Ghosh, Ravi Prasad, Vaibhav Chaturvedi, Vishwas Chitale, Pushp Bajaj, Mehak Sudan, Soham Shah, Kritika Patwal, Nitin Bassi, Roxy Mathew Koll, Sumit Prasad, Apoorve Khandelwal, Jhalak Aggarwal, Ishleen Kaur
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