BMC to unveil first climate action plan today

The Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP) has set an ambitious target of reaching complete carbon neutrality by 2050, two decades ahead of the country’s target of 2070, which was committed in COP-26 in Glasgow.

BMC officials said that the MCAP will be put in the public domain and subsequently its implementation will start.

The plan has focused on six key areas – energy efficiency, air quality and sustainable mobility, sustainable waste management, urban greening and biodiversity, urban flooding and water resource management – to make the city climate-resilient and set a target of zero emission of greenhouse gases.

Besides these six sectors, there are 24 subsectors in the plan that will be considered for implementation.

The plan is likely to push for public transport and encourage the use of electric vehicles (EV).

“The document will lay a plan on encouraging public transport, more EVs, pushing for non-motorised transport (pedestrian and cycling) for small distances, increasing forest cover in the city and constructing energy-efficient buildings. There will be a climate change cell in the BMC with experts and civic officials for coordinating with administrative wards and various departments. The whole institution will be geared up to implement the plan and achieve the results,” Dr Sanjeev Kumar, Additional Municipal Commissioner, in charge of Environment Department in BMC, told The Indian Express.

He said, “The document can be revised, and new things would be added based on the need during implementation in the upcoming years.”

The MCAP was launched in August last year by state Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray.

In September, last year, the minister had also announced that 43 cities from Maharashtra had pledged to go net zero by 2050.

The MCAP was prepared in consultation with the World Resource Institute (WRI), India. Data shows that Mumbai’s greenhouse gas emission was 34.3 million tonnes in 2019 and of which 71 per cent contribution is from the energy sector.

According to Mumbai’s Vulnerability Assessment of climate change done by WRI India, the city will face a rise in temperature and extreme rain events as two major climate challenges.