Like most developing countries, India has two major problems. One is high unemployment caused by an exploding population, and the other, as a result of the first, is poor environmental management. The first leads to a stunted economy and the latter leads to pollution. Six of the world’s ten most polluted cities are in India, according to the World Health Organization. None is ranked higher than New Delhi.

India can’t transform its economy or transition to clean energy overnight. So while it continues to develop—a process that involves creating even more pollution—the Indian government has a verdant idea: Plant two billion trees.

Nitin Jairam Gadkari, an Indian government official with the roll-off-the-tongue title of Road Transport, Highways, Shipping, and Rural