Research Abstract: South Asia faces a defining development challenge: how to sustain the rapid economic growth that has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty while addressing the environmental degradation that threatens to undermine those very gains. The region’s GDP growth has averaged 5–7% annually over the past two decades, yet this growth has been accompanied by accelerating carbon emissions, severe air and water pollution, deforestation, soil degradation, and increasing vulnerability to climate change impacts. The productivity of South Asian economies — measured conventionally...