Mumbai Becomes First City In The Country To Launch Climate Action Plan: Know All Details

In a bid to help the country achieve ‘net zero’ goal, Mumbai has become the first city in India to launch a climate action plan.?

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Sunday unveiled its first ever Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP) with an aim to build a climate-resilient city and to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Speaking on the occasion, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray pitched for sustainable development and said the city’s administrators want to provide amenities to the people, but also wanted to ensure that citizens lead happy and healthy lives.

Highlights of the plan?

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Low-carbon electricity, switch to 100 per cent zero-emission vehicles by 2050, flood-resilient infrastructure, increase in and equitable access to green spaces, localised water conservation and improved air quality monitoring are some of the highlights of Mumbai’s Climate Action Plan (MCAP) unveiled on Sunday. Let’s take a look at the plan in depth.?

Plan explained in depth?

A 240-page MCAP, it is India’s first climate action plan to set short, medium and long-term climate goals.?

With an aim to provide a comprehensive roadmap underlining specific activities that can be undertaken to reduce emissions and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the Mumbai Climate Action Plan has been drafted by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) with technical support from WRI India, engaged as a knowledge partner.

Objectives of the plan?

Under the MCAP, the city is aiming to achieve total carbon neutrality or net-zero emission by 2050, two decades ahead of the Centre’s promised deadline of 2070. This makes it the first city in India and South Asia to set such a timeline and have a climate action plan.

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It also plans an increase in and equal access to green spaces in the bid to improve air quality in the city.

MCAP will focus on six thematic action areas, including decentralised waste management, increased green cover of the city, urban flooding and water management, low-carbon electricity and climate-resilient infrastructure, air quality, and zero-emission public transport.

The six action areas further have 24 priority actions along with deadlines, stakeholders involved, financing sources and monitoring indicators.

To increase the proportion of renewable energy in the city’s energy supply to 50 per cent by 2030 and 90 per cent by 2050, the plan aims that 100 per cent of the electricity used by BMC and other municipal agencies is from renewable sources.

To achieve its net-zero carbon emission target, the MCAP plans to implement a 30 per cent decrease in emissions by 2030, a 44 per cent reduction by 2040, and a net-zero reduction by 2050.

What impact it will bring?

Thackeray said, “Till 2050, the forecast is that 80 per cent of Nariman Point in South Mumbai will be underwater if no concrete action is taken. Therefore, this plan comes at a crucial time.”

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The plan aims to serve as a 30-year road map for the city to tackle the challenges of climate change by adopting inclusive and robust mitigation and adaptation strategies.

After a vulnerability assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) and natural green cover inventory over the last six months, the BMC prepared the plan with technical support from the World Resources Institute (WRI), India and the C40 Cities network.