Mission LiFE: Lifestyle for Environment

India's campaign to encourage sustainable everyday behaviour, what it promotes, and the debate about individual versus systemic change.

In 2021, at the COP26 climate conference, India’s prime minister proposed LiFE, Lifestyle for Environment. Mission LiFE was formally launched in 2022.

The idea

Mission LiFE promotes mindful consumption and sustainable everyday behaviour, encouraging people to be “pro-planet people”. It lists actions under themes such as:

Saving energy: switching off appliances, using LEDs.
Saving water.
Reducing single-use plastic.
Sustainable food: reducing waste, eating local.
Reducing waste and recycling.
Healthy lifestyles: walking, cycling, public transport.

Traditions of thrift

Supporters note that many Indian households already practise reuse and repair, and argue these traditions can be a model.

Economics of behaviour change

Small actions can add up across a large population.
Nudges, social norms and information can shift behaviour.
Many actions save money too.

The debate

Supporters: individual actions build awareness and demand for green products.
Critics: individual action is limited without systemic changes, like cleaner electricity, public transport and carbon pricing. Large emitters, including corporations and wealthy consumers, matter most.

Most economists see both as useful: policies change systems, while behaviour supports and reinforces them.

The school campaign

Students at a school pledge LiFE actions: carrying cloth bags, switching off fans in empty classrooms and composting canteen waste. The school's electricity bill falls, and parents adopt some habits too.

Thinking individual actions alone can solve climate change

Systemic changes like clean energy and carbon pricing are essential alongside behaviour.

Key takeaways

India proposed LiFE in 2021 and launched Mission LiFE in 2022.
It promotes saving energy and water, reducing plastic and waste, and sustainable food.
Many actions also save money.
Individual action complements, but can't replace, systemic change.