Mumbai has announced an ambitious new climate plan which would see the Indian finance capital reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. It will be both the first city in South Asia, as well as the first Indian city, to make such a definitive policy plan.
Mumbai. Credit: Vidur Malhotra / Flickr. CC0
Credit: Vidur Malhotra / Flickr. CC0
The proposal, known as the Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP), will see investments in energy, waste and electric buses in order to achieve the net-zero target.
“As promised in August 2021, the city now has a decisive plan for climate action,” said Maharashtra’s Minister of Tourism and Environment, Aaditya Thackeray. “With this strategy in place for collective implementation, we have taken one step closer to safeguarding our future and that of the planet.”
As part of the plan, Mumbai, which has a population of approximately 20 million people, will also focus on making steps towards cleaner air, creating climate-resilient infrastructure and protecting the city from flooding risks.
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India’s largest city is as known for its poverty as it is for its wealth and opportunities.
Sea levels – which are currently rising at about 3mm a year – threaten to flood inhabited areas of Mumbai along the coastline where people have had to build homes. Across India, around 28.6 million people will face coastal flooding threats if sea rise continues at its current level.
The UN’s Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis report painted a particularly troubling picture for India, as the country is likely to face severe heat waves, strong and unpredictable rainfall, even heavier monsoons and other extreme weather events unless huge changes are made to combat and counterbalance the effects of climate change.
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After China and the US, India is the third biggest emitter globally of carbon dioxide.
In 2020, it produced 666 million tonnes of carbon, which was half of the US emissions. As a result, during the November 2021 climate change conference COP26, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed that India would aim for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2070.
Mumbai’s new plan, then, aims to achieve net-zero emissions twenty years before the country as a whole.
C40 Cities, a network of mayors from nearly 100 cities around the world working to fight climate change, congratulated Mumbai for adopting the plan.
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