Mumbai sets climate goal – net zero by 2050
First-ever climate action plan for a safer, healthier & inclusive city; PM Modi has set a 2070 net-zero goal for the country
Amid warnings of severe damage from rising sea levels, critically high temperatures and increased risk from the impact of climate change for coastal cities like Mumbai, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), with technical support from the World Resources Institute (WRI) India and the C40 Cities network, inaugurated the first-ever Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP) for the city on Sunday. This was done after a vulnerability assessment, greenhouse gas and natural green cover inventory over the last six months, following the recently published Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II report.
The MCAP is a policy document to adopt an evidencebased planning approach and mobilize resources to move from action planning to strategic projects. It has an overall mitigation goal of attaining net-zero emissions by 2050. The plan’s interim and longterm objectives include a 30 per cent decrease in emissions by 2030, a 44 per cent reduction by 2040, dropping down to net zero by 2050 compared to the base year emissions (2019). For 2019, the base year, emissions were calculated to be 23.42 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2e), or 1.8 tonnes CO2e per person. Through the plan, the BMC has also set its eyes on Mumbai achieving net zero ahead of the Government of India’s deadline of 2070. Achieving a balance between the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions generated and the amount removed from the atmosphere is referred to as net zero.
This holds significance in light of announcements made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Conference of the Parties (COP26) at Glasgow last year, setting a 2070 net-zero goal for the country.
The MCAP emphasizes decarbonising Mumbai’s energy grid and building energy-efficient and climate-resilient infrastructure under the building energy efficiency theme and promoting low carbon mobility solutions under the sustainable mobility theme, with a strong focus on non-motorized transport infrastructure and zero-emission fuels. It tries to implement a zero-landfill waste management plan under sustainable waste management.
Similarly, the urban greening and biodiversity theme will focus on increasing resilience by reducing water-sanitation inequity and adopting naturebased solutions for water conservation and flood risk management, while the urban flooding and water resource management theme will focus on increasing resilience by reducing heat risk and increasing the city’s resilience to flooding events. The plan envisions reducing air pollution with improved monitoring, enactment of effective regulations and a switch to cleaner technologies.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who launched the MCAP virtually, said, “While India is on pace to meet its Nationally Determined Contributions, Maharashtra is committed to leading India’s battle against the impending climate crisis through policy-governance changes and instilling the culture of climate action. The MCAP is designed to fulfil the Paris Agreement’s aim of reducing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Mumbai will become a climate-resilient metropolis as a result of the evidence-based policies that led to the creation of MCAP.”
“Various recent extreme weather disasters in Maharashtra, such as Cyclone Tauktae, urban floods, and untimely rains, have demonstrated the importance of implementing localised mitigation and resilience techniques. Our goal is to urge people to take action on
climate change at the local level. In a city like Mumbai, achieving climate resilience requires striking the ideal balance between development aspirations and environmental preservation,” said Minister of Environment & Tourism Aaditya Thackeray.