Mumbai, India's financial hub, has unveiled its first ever Climate Action Plan as part of India’s pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2070. Under the plan, the city aims to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, becoming the first Southeast Asian city to detail its net zero roadmap.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced on Sunday the creation of the Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP), pledging to turn Mumbai into a climate-resilient city.
MCAP is a policy statement that outlines how to transition from action planning to strategic initiatives by using evidence-based planning methodology and mobilizing resources. The action plan for 2022 is entitled “Towards a Climate Resilient Mumbai.”
“While India is on track to fulfill its Nationally Determined Contributions, Maharashtra is dedicated to leading India's fight against the impending climate crisis by implementing policy-governance improvements and instilling a climate-action culture.” Uddhav Thacheray, Mahrashtra chief minister, remarked in a statement.
He added, “The MCAP is intended to achieve the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius set out in the Paris Agreement. As a result of the evidence-based policies that led to the development of MCAP, Mumbai will become a climate-resilient metropolis.”
The project's interim and long-term goals include a 30% reduction in emissions by 2030, a 44% reduction by 2040, and a net zero reduction by 2050 in comparison to the base year of 2019. The base year emissions were calculated to be 23.42 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, or 1.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person.
The state's ambitious plan is expected to help cut India's total carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes by 2030 and reduce the economy's carbon intensity to less than 45% by the end of the decade.
The energy, transportation, and waste sectors are the major emitters of greenhouse gas in Mumbai, with the energy sector accounting for 72% of total emission, the transportation and waste sectors are respectively responsible for 20% and 8%. The MCAP pathways scenario exercise provides evidence on which the city can set emissions reduction targets for the sectors mentioned above.
