Urban Update October 2021

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume VII, Issue VI

October 2021

Cities to lead ‘Race to Zero’ ‘Gazab Ghaziabad’ will be clean, green, & inclusive

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Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation India’s first municipal corporation to successfully list Green Municipal Bonds on the Bombay Stock Exchange

GMC generated `150 crore. The corporation will be using the funds for setting up tertiary water treatment plants and supplying piped water via water meters.

Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation Navyug Market, Ghaziabad, UP - 201001

UrbanUpdate A monthly magazine published by the AIILSG. Ranjit Chavan President-AIILSG Dr Jairaj Phatak Editor-In-Chief Director General-AIILSG Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor Abhishek Pandey Editor Ravi Ranjan Guru Executive Editor Ashley Paul Senior Sub-Editor

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Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

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ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

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Volume VII, Issue VI

July 2021

Recovery has to be environment positive

Cities to lead ‘Race to Zero’ ‘Gazab Ghaziabad’ will be clean, green, & inclusive

Preparing Indian cities for better Stop passing the buck on disaster response Climate CRiSiS aCtionS AIILSG

European Union AIILSG

European Union

project The project is implementedThe by the AIILSG.is funded by the European Union.

The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

European Union The project is funded by the European Union.

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AIILSG The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

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October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

AIILSG The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

With reference to the September 2021 edition of Urban Update (Vol. VII, Issue V), it is to inform our readers that the logo of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) was published in reverse mistakenly. The error is regretted.

European Union The project is funded by the European Union.

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OctOber 2021

August 2021

AIILSG’s contributions Cities need to assess their and innovations for COVID-19 relief, risks, act accordingly resilience building

Radhika Matta Shivi Sharma Editorial Assistants

UrbanUpdate

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

Editorial

Dr Jairaj Phatak | Editor-In-Chief | dg@aiilsg.org

The race to zero; a race we must win Bhutan is recognised as the first country in the world to become carbon negative. In other words the country removes more carbon from the atmosphere than what it puts in. This small country nestled in mountainous terrain is a shining example of big success with efforts on this planet to tackle Climate Change and its disastrous consequences.

After a nearly two-year battle with the Coronavirus (which is still raging in parts of the world), the subject of Climate Change will once again be in the spotlight of world leaders who are under great pressure to decarbonize their economies to fight off the dreadful effects of global warming.

COP26, delayed by a year, to be held in a few weeks at Glasgow, will bring together world leaders in what may well be a ‘do or die’mission. Addressing a gathering of ministers at a pre-COP26 event, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres highlighted how critical the event and deliberations there were, when he said, “We can either save our world or condemn humanity to a hellish future.”

The urgency of the subject needs to be seen in the context of several discomforting developments.

Among them is the recent August 21 warning by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) stating that the targeted threshold global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius could be encountered as early as 2030. In other words, the distance to be travelled in order to avert disaster is getting longer and the time to do so, shorter. In any case, the attempt at COP26 must be steadfast adherence to the 1.5 degree goal enshrined in the Paris Agreement.

COP26 will also have to address and overcome the trust deficit between the developing nations and the developed ones, whom the former consider ‘guilty’ for past emissions and therefore responsible for the current climate crisis. Many are demanding that the rich nations must make good their pledge to fund the poor nations to ‘decarbonise’. In fact, KV Subramanian, India’s Chief Economic Adviser, goes a step further - “This $100 billion that the advanced economies are talking about actually for innovation in climate finance, you know, it’s a drop in the ocean,” he told Reuters. “I think their commitment needs to be much greater.”

The need then is for innovative, speedy, transformative actions, not tentative, incremental measures in this fight to save our planet; and each citizen needs to be a part of this fight. ‘Race to Zero’ is one such global campaign involving a whole spectrum of stakeholders in this mission to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, the latest. We need several such initiatives, programmes and campaigns at all levels – national, regional, city and the neighbourhood. Cities, the centres of economic activity with a large share of emissions, will remain central stakeholders in these campaigns. Local city governments will thus lead the efforts in our quest for a safer and more sustainable planet for us and for generations to come.

This issue of Urban Update brings you several views and insights into this subject and hopes to add significantly to the debate on this subject.

I take this opportunity to wish our readers and their families a safe, healthy, and happy festive season.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

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Quotes

As disruptive, as lonely, as frustrating and as sad as the last year has been, we are getting through it and a degree of normality is returning. The company of friends and relations is returning. Hope is returning

Calling all cities. Give people a place to walk and breathe. Give kids a place to mess around on a bike. Step back and let the gorgeousness of it all develop. Lisbon is doing it

Micheál Martin Taoiseach, Ireland

Matthew Baldwin Manager, EU 100 Climate Neutral Cities project

PIN POINT

It is critical that we future-proof our cities by investing in sectors with potential for high ecological and digital transformation and job creation

We have to enhance awarenessraising and protect human rights while providing services for everybody in our communities, with no regard about their status or where they are from

Victor Kisob UN Assistant Secretary-General

Emilia Saiz Secretary General, UCLG

BUZZ Narendra Modi

Cities Alliance

The Architectural Association of

Dr David Nabarro

Prime Minister of India

@CitiesAlliance

Kenya

Co-Director, Imperial IGHI

@Arch_KE

@davidnabarro

According to the @urbancampaign, how we plan, build & manage our cities today will determine the outcome of our efforts to achieve sustainable & harmonious development tomorrow #FridayFocus #Sustainability

Even with the #COVID19 pandemic’s temporary reduction, #GHG concentrations reached new highs in 2020. Greener #FoodSystems can reduce emissions and pave the way for achieving #SDG13: #ClimateAction

@PMOIndia

The threat of climate change is looming large above us. The world will have to accept that any change in the global environment first begins with the self. The simplest & most successful way to mitigate climate change is to lead lifestyles that are in harmony with nature

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October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

A gender-responsive lens to #city #planning ensures that the voices, experiences and needs of women & girls, especially those affected by urban #poverty, are considered & influence changes for the benefit of all. #TurnItAround for #GenderEquality

Content

Inside Volume 7, Issue 6

6 12

13 46

Pin Point Newscan

City Image Urban Agenda

October 2021

Girl Power Project

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Mushroom cultivation can boost women farmers’ income, help fight malnutrition

Cover Story

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Stop passing the buck on climate crisis actions Climate change and its effects are now visible more than ever before. A major cause of climate change and global warming, carbon emissions, is also getting renewed attention as countries across the world are working tirelessly to reduce their carbon footprint, hoping to bring down global carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and somehow achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. But before that, we need to assess how to plan policies at the global and local levels, and where our efforts must be focused to witness the best results

LEADERSPEAK

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Cities to lead ‘Race to Zero’ Cities and towns worldwide will be instrumental in reducing carbon emissions by half by 2030 and to zero by 2050. 799 cities worldwide,including 10 cities from India, have joined the campaign. Other cities must also join the bandwagon for far-reaching impact and gain access to the learnings and experiences of member cities

One ON ONE Mahendra Singh Tanwar, Commissioner, GMC

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‘Gazab Ghaziabad’ will be clean, green, & inclusive GMC has been making news for its major strides towards sustainable development of the city. From clearing out black spots of the city, improving collection and management of electronic waste, to working steadfastly to tackle air pollution, the city corporation is on its way to become a leading example of how a city can be transformed. Abhishek Pandey, Editor, Urban Update, interviews Mahendra Singh Tanwar, Commissioner, Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation, to understand the strategies of the corporation to make the city more smart, habitable, and inclusive

44 Articles

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PSUs: Driving India’s quest for carbon neutrality Reduction in CO2 emissions requires people engagement India spurring low-carbon innovation on a large scale Indian Navy moving towards sustainable living Why India needs zero-waste cities, not garbage free cities Net-zero commitments by cities essential to address issues of IDPs

Infocomm India

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Urban Resilience: Key for sustaining future cities

E-Dialogues

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Experts discuss need to build cities-for-all www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

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Girl Power Project

Mushroom cultivation can boost women farmers’ income, help fight malnutrition Team girl power project

I

In Jharkhand, mushrooms are cultivated organically and are widely consumed by the local people. Mushroom is highly perishable i.e., their shelf life is shorter since they lack chlorophyll and have heterotrophic mode of nutrition. They live on dead matter as they are saprophytes and vary widely in shape and size. Mushroom cultivation enterprise can also play a significant role in alleviation of poverty through generation of additional employment in rural areas. The different types of mshroom are: ♦♦ Paddy Straw Mushroom ♦♦ White Button Mushroom ♦♦ Portobello Mushroom

♦♦ Oyster Mushroom Paddy straw mushroom is an edible mushroom of the tropics and subtropics which is also known as warm mushroom as it grows in relatively high temperature. They were first cultivated in China and were later introduced in countries like Malaysia, Philippines, and other South-East Asian countries by Chinese traders and travellers. In India, it was cultivated in early 1940’s and approximately 19 edible species have been recorded but cultivation method of only three have been devised. It is one of the fastest growing mushrooms and under favourable conditions, their total crop cycle is completed within a month. They grow in temperatures ranging from 35-40 degree Celsius.

Nutritional value of mushrooms

Mushroom helps to eliminate malnutrition among people having cereals as staple food. They are lowcalorie food, also known as vegetable meat or white vegetables, and are loaded with various health benefits.

They are a rich source of protein, vitamin, minerals and fibres and are recognized as an important part of any diet. Mushrooms have low starch content, no cholesterol and have low calories. The anti-inflammatory properties in mushroom have improved the efficiency of the human immune system. They also contain medicinal properties, including anti-HIV, anticancer activities, hypocholestemic, hypolipidermic and antihypertension effects. Mushrooms also have other health benefits. The folic acid present in them helps in curing anemia and mushrooms are also suitable for people suffering from diabetes, obesity and hyper-tension.

Potential of mushrooms cultivation and value addition in Jharkhand

Due to the limited time of availability of mushroom, cultivation of mushrooms has a lot of potential in the state. Approximately, 84 per cent of the farmers in the state are small and marginal and paddy straw mushroom cultivation can help them in securing an additional income by utilizing accessible resources such as paddy straw. As per the assessment, the availability of paddy straw indicates that nearly 38 per cent of the total paddy straw produced in the state remains unutilized. The different value added products like dried mushroom,

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mushroom trainer, explained about the origin, characteristics, importance and cultivation practices for production of paddy straw mushroom to the beneficiaries.

Cultivation practices for production of paddy straw mushroom

mushroom powder and pickles are being prepared by them. A sizable amount of the processed products are being marketed in the local market, while a part of the dehydrated products are being consumed in the farm families.

To address the need of entrepreneurship pertaining to women in rural areas of Jharkhand, Girl Power project, implemented by the All India Institute of Local Self Government and funded by the European Union, conducted a three-day training program on mushroom production and value addition, as it was among the products identified for training and entrepreneurship promotion among rural women during the baseline survey carried out in 10 districts of Jharkhand.

The three-day training program was conducted in Konar Village Extension, Churchu block, Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand, which concluded on October 2. In this training programme, 39 female beneficiaries participated.

Jharkhand Mahila Utthan, a CSO working in Hazaribag district of

Jharkhand, facilitated the training.

Nilam Besra, Secretary, Jharkhand Mahila Utthan, welcomed the guests, resource persons, and participants, and addressed the need of the programme.

The Girl Power team then discussed the objective of the project, purpose of training, and shared the expected outcome of the project with the beneficiaries. The training session was started by Ruben Lakra, a certified mushroom trainer. He stressed upon why mushroom cultivation could become an important subsidiary occupation for small and landless farmers by helping them enhance their income and livelihood. He further said that mushroom is an indoor crop that can be cultivated by utilizing vertical spaces and involves low-cost techniques. With the change in lifestyle and people becoming accustomed to healthy food habits, the consumption of mushrooms is increasing at a faster pace. One of the main reasons for this is that it has an abundance of health benefits. On the second and third day of the training, Sangeeta Nayak, a certified

Three-inch long paddy straws are soaked in clean and cold water for 12 hours. Then, using a chemical method, the substrate is soaked in a solution of formalin, Bavistin, and water.

This helps to suppress the growth and multiplication of moulds in the substratum. After this, the straws are kept in a slanting manner upside down to drain off excess water in a shadow place. Later, platforms are made using straws in which seeds are sprinkled and kept in single-use polythene bags.

Some holes are made in the poly-bags for the mushrooms to sprout. After this, the bags are tied and kept in a humid place. The straw is covered and the bags are hung with a string at a gap of 30 cm from each other. Within 30 days, small growth appears and the first flush of mushrooms is harvested after five to six days. Thus, within four to five weeks, mushrooms will be available for marketing. The trainer also taught the beneficiaries the complete method of harvesting. Further, the trainers also explained that the mushrooms should be kept in a clean house away from insects and rats which can damage them and also can cause infections, if consumed.

Training outcomes

After the training, the beneficiaries will be able to select important types of mushroom for cultivation; produce value added products like mushroom pickle, powder, papad and other edible items; and effectively manage small business enterprises based on mushroom production and value addition. Thus, mushroom based enterprises will provide vast opportunities for empowering rural and urban women through cultivation, production of value added products and their marketing.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

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NEWSCAN

October is dedicated to better urbanisation

NEW DELHI: Greater equality, access to services and new possibilities, as well as engagement and mobilisation that represent the diversity of cities, countries, and the globe, are all potential outcomes of urbanisation.

However, this is not always the case with urban development. Inequality and exclusion are rampant, with rates often exceeding the national average, at the price of long-term growth that benefits everyone.

The month of October is dedicated to urban challenges and sustainable development, with various meetings, conversations, and events taking place throughout the world. Individuals, organisations, cities, communities, and governments at all levels are urged to participate in events that focus on the challenges and solutions that cities, towns, and communities face. The month of October kicks off with the World Habitat Day and wraps up with the World Cities Day. United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN Habitat) organizes various events in this month to observe Urban October. This year, Daring Cities 2021 Global Virtual Forum was organised between October 4 and October 8, which is a global virtual forum for urban leaders taking on the climate emergency. The 2021 edition offered an exciting five-day program featuring 20 sessions, including

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October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

strategic high-level dialogues, handson training sessions for policy makers and practitioners, as well as a variety of networking opportunities.

The 3rd Economic Forum was organised on October 4 and October 5 as UN’s partner event. It focused on how to deliver adequate and affordable housing and healthy environments as vehicles for urban economic recovery to achieve the SDGs and make cities sustainable. The 15th edition of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was organised from October 3 to October 7. Building on the theme of UNCTAD last year, this year’s theme ‘From inequality and vulnerability to prosperity for all’ tried to seek a concrete decade of action in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals.

As part of partner events, UN organised the second Marmara Urban Forum online in collaboration with Marmara Municipalities Union between October 1 and October 3. It was an attempt to create an endeavor to create an exchange and dialogue platform among the public and private sector, NGOs, universities, local governments and all other stakeholders, where it focused on looking for radical solutions to today’s urban problems.

For the first time ever, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

organised a Sustainable Urbanisation Forum in the first week of October. The multi-stakeholder forum was dedicated to promoting sustainable urbanisation in the region and promoting connectivity, knowledge sharing, and learning opportunities for ASEAN member states, cities, and people. The World Energy Week Live, organised between October 5 and October 7 this year, convoked energy leaders for peer exchange and interactive conversation on climate neutral and carbon positive energy developments, which are evident in all world regions.

The World Habitat Day, celebrated on the first Monday of October every year, highlights the state of our towns and cities, as well as the basic right of adequate shelter for all. The theme for this year was ‘Accelerating urban action for a carbon-free world’.

The World Metropolitan Day was celebrated on October 7, where Metropolis and UN-Habitat together organised an event on this year’s theme ‘Resilience for all: creating caring metropolises beyond COVID-19’ where ideas and solutions were exchanged on how to create more caring and resilient metropolitan spaces. The month culminates with the World Cities Day on October 31. The overall theme for the day is ‘Better City, Better Life’ and the theme this year is ‘Adapting Cities for Climate Resilience’.

NEWSCAN | BRIEFS

Scientists create whitest paint WEST LAFAYETTE: Scientists from the United States University, in a pioneering research, have created the world’s ‘whitest paint’. The white color of the paint reflects 98.1 per cent of solar light as compared to commercial white paint, reflecting only 80-90 per cent of the heat of sunlight. It also emits infrared heat, which can cool the area around buildings. The team that created the paint was led by Xiulin Ruan, a professor of mechanical engineering from Purdue University.

The white paint absorbs less heat than the heat emitted from the Sun, through which, the use of air conditioners can be reduced. Commercial paints designed to reject heat reflect only 80-90 per cent of the sunlight but fail to make surfaces cooler than their surroundings. Purdue University said in an official statement that the typical commercial white paint after drying off gets warmer rather than cooler.

The developers of the paint said that covering a roof area of about 1000 square feet using the paint can generate upto 10 kilowatts of cooling power. They added that this is more powerful than air conditioners used in most houses. The ‘whitest paint’ also earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for being so white.

Millions of children in South Asia at loss due to remote learning NEW DELHI: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that hundreds of millions of children in South Asia are presently suffering because their schools have been closed due to coronavirus and they lack online devices and connections for remote learning. UNICEF has asked authorities to prioritize safe reopening of schools.

According to the UN agency, even before the pandemic, nearly 60 per cent of children in the densely populated region were unable to read and understand a simple text by the age of 10. George Laryea-Adjei, Regional Director for South Asia, UNICEF, said that school closures in South Asia owing to the COVID-19 pandemic have further aggravated the issue of accessibility to education. He said

that it has forced hundreds of millions of children and their teachers to transition to remote learning in a region with low connectivity and low device affordability.

Even at times when a family has access to technology, children are not always able to access it. As a result, children have been suffering enormous setbacks in their learning journey, he added.

In its report based on research conducted in India, the Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, UNICEF said that due to school closures since the pandemic started, over 434 million children have been affected in South Asia. The report added that significant populations of children were learning considerably less in comparison to prepandemic levels. It noted that 80 per cent of children aged 14 to 18 in India reported lower levels of learning than when they attended schools physically.

Moreover, 42 per cent of children aged six and 13 reported that they were not having any remote learning during the closure of physical schools.

DME to generate over Rs 1000 crore monthly Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, informed that the world’s longest expressway in India will generate `1000-1500 crore monthly when it becomes operational in 2023.

He also termed the National Highways Authority of India as a ‘goldmine’ for generating income. Besides the turnover, the Delhi-Mumbai expressway (DME) will also reduce travel time between the two metro cities from 24-26 hours to 12-13 hours. Gadkari also added that NHAI, which is spearheading the road infrastructure drive in the country, will rake in `1.40 lakh crore in the next five years, which is `40,000 crore currently.

BMC completes 40% of its coastal road project

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has completed the construction of a one-kilometer long tunnel with a diameter of 40-feet under the Malabar Hill in South Mumbai, which amounts to almost 40 per cent of the Coastal Road Project, worth `12,000 crore. According to Iqbal Singh Chahal, Commissioner, BMC, only 900 meters of tunnels are remaining now and the project will be completed in November 2023. As per BMC’s website, the civic body has envisioned the Mumbai Coastal road project to relieve congestion on existing roads.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

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BRIEFS | AIILSG Diary

GVMC to launch ‘model ward’ program

Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) is going to launch a ‘model ward’ program in collaboration with Dhan Foundation, a nongovernment organization. This program would be useful for comprehensive development and will spread awareness on best practices concerning women’s empowerment. G Hari Venkata Kumari, Mayor, GVMC, said that an awareness drive should be conducted in schools on topics related to drug abuse, communication skills and others. Under this program, few wards will be adopted and free medical tests will be provided to the members of these wards.

SDMC sets up real-time project tracking system South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has set up a web-enabled Project Information and Cost Estimation (PRICE) system, which will enable the civic body to surveil and track various ongoing projects with the engineering department on a real-time basis. This system will facilitate proficient and transparent working of departments, an SDMC official said. “It has always been difficult to monitor and keep track of the departmental operations manually, but with this webenabled workflow system, it would be easier to keep a tab on all sorts of activities being carried out in different departments under SDMC,” the official added.

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Most infants in 91 countries are malnourished: Report NEW DELHI: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released a report titled ‘Fed to Fail? The Crisis of Children’s Diets in Early Life’. The report said that a combination of crises due to COVID-19, conflict and the climate breakdown had stunted progress on children’s nutrition in 91 countries.

The report said that 50 per cent of children aged from six to 23 months across developing countries were not fed the minimum number of daily meals, and even fewer proportions of those children had a diverse diet that could meet their minimum body requirements.

According to the study, nutrition was worst for children in rural or poorer families. It stated that the diets of 62 per cent of the children aged between six and 23 months in Latin America and the Caribbean met the minimum diversity requirements, whereas less than a quarter of the children in Africa and only 19 per cent in South Asia had their minimum diversity requirements met. Additionally, many families are buying their food rather than producing it themselves, even in rural areas, which has made

people more dependent on food systems that do not address the dietary needs of people. The report established that only a third of children less than two years of age in many developing countries are fed what they need for healthy growth.

Moreover, no visible progress has been made on improving their nutrition over the past decade.

Qu Dongyu, Director-General, UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, commented that many of the current agri-food practices are exacting a heavy toll on the planet. “Our agri-food systems are not functioning properly,” he added. According to Dongyu, the key is to transform the system that delivers food from tillage to table and would rest on actions taken at the local and international levels.

Tamil Nadu signs MoUs to create 41,000 jobs CHENNAI: The Government of Tamil Nadu signed 24 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with industries that are to bring an investment of `2,120.54 crore to the state.

This investment will create more than 40,000 jobs for the people of Tamil Nadu.

These MoUs were signed at the Tamil Nadu Exports Conclave which is organized as part of the ‘Trade and Commerce Week’ from September 20 to 26. The event was organized to commemorate the 75th Independence Day and the MoUs were signed in the presence of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M K Stalin. The investments will be made in textiles, chemicals, IT (Information Technology), steel, leather, apparel and general manufacturing sectors.

CM Stalin also released the Tamil Nadu Exports Promotion Strategy and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Exporters handbook. An exclusive park will also be created in the state and will be established on 240 acres at Voyalur near Ponneri in order to cater to the needs of the polymer industry. Thangam Thennarasu, Minister of Industries, Government of Tamil Nadu, said that the MoUs would help the state government in realising its target of becoming a $1 trillion economy by 2030. He added that the state needs to put more effort into giving impetus to exports. Out of the total 24 MoUs, 14 were signed with 100 per cent export-oriented units, which account for a total investment of `1,880.54 crore. Other MoUs have been signed on behalf of the Department of MSMEs with a cumulative investment of `240 crore. Through this advancement, it is expected that over 39,150 persons and 2,545 individuals will be provided with a job.

City Image

India leading sustainable energy consumption path Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) commissioned India’s largest floating solar PV plant in Andhra Pradesh on September 14. The 25 Megawatts floating SPV project covers 100 acres of the water body at NTPC Simhadri. The project will produce clean power, have higher yield as compared to conventional ground-mounted projects, and reduce water evaporation by providing shade to the covered area.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

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BRIEFS | AIILSG Diary

‘Main Bhi Digital 3.0’ campaign launched for street vendors Main Bhi Digital 3.0 – a special campaign for digital inclusion of street vendors, has been launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, in collaboration with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The scheme is part of the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors’ AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme and will be implemented across 223 cities in the country. BharatPe, Mswipe, PhonePe, Paytm, and Aceware are participating in this drive to issue UPI IDs, QR code and provide digital training.

Digital Payment Aggregators will handhold the street vendors to bring about enhanced adoption of digital transactions and behaviour change.

BMC clears proposal for 11 oxygen plants

On a path towards becoming self-sufficient in providing medical oxygen to patients, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced that 16 oxygen generation plants are ready, with capacity of generating 41-42 metric tonnes of oxygen. “There have been some delays in the installation of these plants. But now, we have 16 plants ready for smooth functioning in times of crisis,” said P Velarasu, Additional Commissioner, BMC. In order to be better prepared for a probable third wave of COVID-19, BMC will be installing 11 oxygen plants in jumbo COVID hospitals in the city.

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WHO revises air quality guidelines after 15 years NEW DELHI: The World Health Organisation (WHO) updated the air quality guidelines which were set roughly 15 years ago. The WHO cited the reason for this and said that the negative health effects due to air pollution can begin at lower levels than what was previously thought. According to WHO, an estimated seven million deaths are caused around the world every year due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and these changes are meant to reduce deaths due to these pollutants. According to the new guidelines, the recommended maximum levels for six well-known pollutants, namely particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide, will be lowered.

The global health body specifically emphasized the need to decrease the levels of particulate matter equal to or smaller than 10 and 2.5 microns (PM 10 and PM 2.5, respectively). It added that these particles are primarily generated by the burning of fuels and can get deep into the lungs causing respiratory diseases. WHO said that for children, this could include reduced lung growth and function, respiratory infections, and aggravated asthma. For adults, this could translate to ischaemic heart disease and stroke as the most common causes of premature death attributed to outdoor air pollution. Recent studies have also found that this could increase the chances of diabetes and other neurodegenerative conditions.

Hans Henri Kluge, Regional Director for Europe, WHO, said that clean air is a fundamental right of all and it is a necessary condition for healthy and productive societies. The WHO added that people living in low- and middle-income countries are exposed to a higher level of air pollution as compared to those in high-income countries.

Highest single-day rainfall in 19 years in Delhi NEW DELHI: The highest single-day rainfall in September in 19 years brought the Capital on its knees on September 1. The heavy downpour flooded major arteries, colonies, homes and shops, which resulted in the disruption of normal life and caused major traffic jams across the city as commuters were left stranded for hours. Safdarjung, the base weather station for Delhi, had recorded 112.1 mm (millimeter) of rain till the morning of September 1. Before this, the highest one-day rainfall in September was recorded on September 13, 2002, at 126.8 mm. The region received 76.5 mm of rain between 08:30 AM and 05:30 PM, which means the monthly normal of 125.1 mm was achieved in just 33 hours and is now placed in the ‘excess’ category at 45 per cent. The four-decade-old drainage system can hold only up to 50 mm of rainfall. Waterlogging was reported on many roads with videos of submerged areas in Delhi like Diplomatic Enclave at Chanakyapuri and markets like Connaught Place and Sadar Bazaar. The situation of various underpasses and under-bridges was particularly worrisome with Minto Bridge being closed for traffic amid heavy rainfall.

Despite the claims of additional pumps and sensors being deployed, several stretches in Delhi were clogged with traffic and chocked with rainwater. The monsoon report of South Delhi Municipal Corporation revealed that waterlogging had been reported from 31 areas, 21 cases of tree felling and three cases in which walls and buildings collapsed.

NEWSCAN

NITI Aayog releases report on urban planning reforms in India NEW DELHI: NITI Aayog, the think tank of the Government of India, released a report on the steps required for urban planning reforms in India. It was released by Dr Rajiv Kumar, ViceChairman, NITI Aayog; and Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog. The report was titled ‘Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity in India’.

Urban planning is the key to integrated development of cities in the country, but it has not received due attention till now, according to the report. The COVID-19 pandemic has also exposed the situation in urban regions and shows an urgent need for better planning and management of cities in India. Annexure I consists of the questions put up in Rajya Sabha related to urban planning and their answers provided by Babul Supriyo, the then Minister of State for Urban Development, Government of India.

The report also mentions the formation of an advisory committee for reforms in

urban planning education system under the chairmanship of Dr Rajiv Kumar and 13 other members. The report also realizes the need for cities to compact and ensure better livability through transport oriented development.

The report gives a detailed account of all the events and meetings held by the advisory committee and the key benchmarks achieved by the central and state governments with regard to urban planning and development.

Annexure VI of the report elaborately mentions the list of states in India with cities having master plans or plan under preparation. It also tells that almost 65 per cent (5090) of the total 7933 urban settlements in India (census towns + statutory towns) do not have any master plan (approved or under preparation).

The planning report also added that as per the guidelines of the Urban Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (UDPFI) 1996, there

is a need for 11,768 urban planners in the country for a total of 7933 urban settlements, which will equate to one planner per 32,000 urban population. However, this model is a ‘conservative’ estimate and is calculated based on the urban features and population structures in 1990, the report mentioned. Therefore, another model was put together by the Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO), in consultation with NITI Aayog, which could be realistic and practical. As per this model, there is a requirement of 12,213 urban planners in the country, meaning 8,268 posts in all the states and union territories (UTs). Further, the report proposed several recommendations that would unblock the bottlenecks in the value chain of urban planning capacity in India.

The report has made several recommendations to decongest the value chain of urban planning in India.

It also suggested the formulation of a central sector scheme named “500 Healthy Cities Programme” for a period of five years where priority cities will be selected by the state governments and local bodies. At the end of the report, there is a complete list of courses offered by educational institutions in planning and also the list of colleges in India which offer postgraduate and undergraduate degree programmes in planning. All cities and towns proposed under the programme should try to maximise the efficiency of urban land and to combat the shortage of urban planners in the public sectors, they should increase filling up of vacant positions of town planners.

Moreover, the report also suggested that professionals who are qualified should undertake projects related to urban planning. Besides this, the major concern in many states still remains that town planning is not given that much importance, thus professions related to town planning are not given much heed and the focus remains confined towards other jobs.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

15

NEWSCAN

5 roads, flyover approved

by PMC Pune Municipal Corporation’s standing committee gave the nod to appoint a consultant for the development work of five roads and flyovers in the city. In the initial phase of this project, the work for five roads worth `391.7 crore has been finalized. These five roads are a part of the development plan road near Baner hill, Sus-BanerMhalunge fringe road, Baner road near national highway, Ringroad near Ahmednagar road to Lohegaon to Pimpri Chinchwad, and Gangadham Chowk to Shantrunjay Mandir to Kondhwa.

43 Maharashtra cities to join Race to Zero campaign

Aaditya Thackeray, Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Government of Maharashtra, announced that 43 cities of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and urban clusters from the state will join the campaign of global Race to Zero. This will help them in joining the race to become carbon neutral by 2040s or sooner. The state environment department will take an inventory exercise for greenhouse gas emissions for all the cities and clusters. In this exercise, the cities will explain what actions need to be taken towards achieving both interim and long-term pledges.

16

October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Dubai inaugurates world’s first eco-friendly green mosque DUBAI: Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) inaugurated the world’s first green mosque in the city of Dubai. The mosque has received platinum rating by the Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) with 83 points for its design.

The green mosque is an initiative by the Government of Dubai to lead towards a more sustainable future that meets the requirements of social, economic, and environmental development.

The mosque, situated in Hatta, is spread across an area of 1050 square metres with a capacity to accommodate over 600 worshippers.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, CEO, DEWA, said at the inauguration event that the green mosque has been designed keeping in mind the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister, UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, announced the plan on March 13, 2021. It mainly focused on enhancing the quality of life and happiness of people living in Dubai by curating a plan for sustainable urban development.

Dr Hamad Al Sheikh Ahmed Al Shaibani, Director-General of the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department (IACAD), said while commenting on the green mosque that the organisation supports UAE’s efforts in combating climate change. The first of its kind green mosque is a pioneering example of adopting sustainable practices for preserving natural resources for conserving the limited resources for the future generation. Dr Al Shaibani said that the mosque receiving the LEED Platinum certification confirmed that it has met all international sustainability standards and achieved high levels of efficiency.

Thermocol waste recycling project launched by PMC PUNE: Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), SWaCH cooperative, and KK Nag Pvt Ltd, have launched a sustainable thermocol (Polystyrene) recycling initiative in the city.

The project was launched by Murlidhar Mohol, Mayor of Pune, on September 9. KK Nag Pvt Ltd, India’s largest thermocol manufacturer, in assistance with waste picker cooperative SWaCH, is implementing the project in the city.

The pilot project is named ‘Recycole’. A total of 2100 tons of waste is generated in PMC daily, including an estimated 0.4 to 0.5 tons of thermocol waste. Garbage collection vehicles of PMC, with individual capacities of 1500 kg, can carry only 50 kg of thermocol at a time due to their high volume. To tackle this, SWaCH and KK Nag will ensure safe collection, transportation, and recycling of thermocol.

This initiative will be implemented across Pune and bulk waste generators such as housing societies, commercial complexes, and showrooms have been instructed to store the waste. Citizens can contact SWaCH once enough waste is collected and the organisation will then coordinate to fast-track collection and recycling. Independent households and shops have to hand the thermocol waste generated daily to rag pickers.

Harshad Barde, Director, SWaCH Pune Cooperative, said that at present, waste pickers recycle over 200 tons of waste in the city every day. He requested the citizens to segregate and hand over thermocol separately before handing over the waste to SWaCH’s workers.

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume VI, Issue IX

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

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January 2021

Volume VI, Issue X

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

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February 2021

POWERING AHEAD IN 2021

March 2021

Phase Out COal Fast

REsHAPING OuR uRbAN FutuRE, LEssONs LEARNt FROm COVID-19

Cities need to bAlAnCe development, resourCe utilisAtion, sustAinAbility tArgets responsibly

UrbanUpdate Volume VI, Issue XII

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Cities’ role primary in increasing uptake of RE

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Bringing Street VendorS into MainStreaM

All cogs of the wheel need to work together

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BRIEFS | NEWSCAN

First Solar CEO appreciates India’s climate change response

During the high profile meet with top business leaders in the United States of America (USA), Prime Minster Narendra Modi interacted with Mark Widmar, Chief Executive Officer, First Solar. Widmar expressed his happiness with the policies of India with respect to climate change and related industries.

PM Modi talked about the ‘One World, One Sun, One Grid’ initiative and referred to India’s target of 450 Gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy.

PM Modi and Widmar agreed on the enhancement of solar manufacturing in India, which will also benefit other nations in the region.

NGT issues show-cause notice to UD secretary On grounds of failure to comply with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Secretary of Urban Development Department, Rajasthan, has been issued with a show-cause notice.

The show cause was issued as the Urban Development Department failed to appear before the NGT on a dispute over the alleged discharge of untreated sewage and industrial effluents in agricultural lands in Nokha Village of Bikaner, Rajasthan. A petition had been filed in this regard in 2019 as the petitioner had taken grievance of the discharge of untreated water in agricultural lands of Nokha village.

18

October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

India, Denmark commit further engagement in renewable energy NEW DELHI: RK Singh, Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, with his Danish counterpart Dan Jorgensen, Climate, Energy and Utilities Minister, Government of Denmark, agreed on further engagement of the two countries in the field of renewable energy.

In the meeting, Singh highlighted that transition towards green energy is a significant part of India’s policy. He also pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned a set target of 450 Gigawatts of renewable energy capacity to be achieved by 2030 in his speech on Independence Day. Moreover, the two ministers together launched the ‘Centre of Excellence on Offshore Wind’ as a constituent of the Green Strategic Partnership. Singh added that the whole renewable energy portfolio is at 146 GW. He also said that India is the only G20 country whose actions are in consonance with the Paris Climate Agreement with regard to the global rise in temperature. While discussing the potential of green energy, Singh said that India is looking at making Ladakh and islands such as Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep green in energy, including transport. The Centre of Excellence will be surrounded by four working groups namely spatial planning, financial framework conditions, supply chain infrastructure and standards and testing, and in its initial phases of operation, the focus would be given to the offshore wind sector. In the initial phases, the Center of Excellence will focus on the offshore wind sector. In the long run, the Centre will tend to broaden to include wider groups of international governments, accumulate expertise in the offshore wind sector, become an international centre for offshore wind, and have broader links in new and renewable energy.

Govt clears bulk water supply scheme in Shimla SHIMLA: Suresh Bharadwaj, Minister of Urban Development, Housing, and Town Planning, Government of Himachal Pradesh, announced that the proposed bulk water supply scheme for Shimla has received official clearance from the forest department. He added that the clearance came in a short time, thereby paving the road for the launch of a scheme designed to address the water shortages in Shimla.

Suresh said that the Government of Himachal Pradesh has made a commitment to provide 24×7 water supply in Shimla, and in these endeavours, five wards of Shimla would be provided with round-the-clock supply by the end of the year. A financial outlay of $250 million has been approved for the scheme. Out of this approved amount, the World Bank will provide financial assistance by giving $150 million, and the remaining $90 million will be provided by the Government of Himachal Pradesh.

The project is a flagship project of the state for it aims to provide best-in-class water supply and sewerage system in

Shimla. It has been designed to cater to the requirements of the city till 2050.

It will involve lifting from the Sutlej river near Shakrodi village to a height of 1.6 km and pipe laying of 22 km to augment 67 million liters per day water at Sanjauli. It will also replace the distribution pipe network across Shimla Municipal Corporation to upgrade it to a 24×7 water supply system. Moreover, a sewerage network in Mehli, Panthaghati, Totu, and Mashobra would be provided.

Event | Sustainable Cities

Experts discuss ways to sustainable development in inclusive cities

NEW DELHI: Intercultural Cities, a part of the Council of Europe, organised a webinar on “Sustainable Cities: How to make them more inclusive?” on September 16, to discuss inclusion of migrants and diversity in circular, green and inclusive economic models.

The event’s keynote address was delivered by Ivana d’Alessandro, Head of Unit, Intercultural Cities, Council of Europe, where she talked about the importance of building inclusive cities and focussing on sustainable development. She quoted Agenda 30 and said that in its preamble, it is defined as a “plan of action for people, planet and prosperity” which bridges the economic, social and environmental agenda of leaving no one behind. She went on to say that there is a gap in dealing with sustainability in an inclusive way.

However, there is elaborate guidance, scientific knowledge, and big funding dedicated for speeding up the programmes and actions which are aimed at conservation of biodiversity, climate change and fostering ecological transition.

The next session of the event was named ‘Round Table of Mayors’, and included Florian Janik, Mayor, Erlangen; Jean-Luc Romero-Michel, Deputy Mayor, Paris; Katrine Berg Nodtvedt, Deputy Mayor, Culture, Diversity and Equality, Bergen; Floriane

Varieras, Deputy Mayor, Strasbourg; and Veronique Lamontagne, Planning Manager, Ville de Montreal. The mayors talked and discussed about the implication of circular economy for migrant inclusion. Janik said that diversity has a proven positive impact on society and business. Yet, the pace of making cities inclusive is extremely slow. Nodtvedt talked about street vendors and migrants and said that we continue to focus on their negative aspects. Moreover, people and administrations avoid the opportunities which migration brings to the host cities. They indulge in informal economic activity which affects the economy of cities in various ways. She added that migrants are more exposed to exploitation, discrimination and have lesser resilience to unforeseen activities in the economy due to natural disasters or pandemics like COVID-19.

Varieras, while talking about circular economy, said that the circular economy is a sustainable economic model which has been developed as an alternative to linear economy. This model generates value from continuous circulation of resources with high level of usage and value retention. He also added that having a green and circular economy does not ensure inclusivity in development design. In order to have inclusion, there has to be green

transition but it should be incorporated with the value of interculturalism.

Lamontagne, during her address, cited some statistics and showed that cities in the present times are centres of the largest social and environmental challenges, which include 75 per cent of natural resource consumption, 50 per cent of global waste production, and 60-80 per cent of global GHG emissions, etc. She added that capacity building is the key to facilitate business-led initiatives and come up with innovative projects in the community. Establishing inclusive cities is an important precursor to having sustainable development in cities around the globe, she added.

Maja Johannessen, Manager, Nordic Sustainability, concluded the event by stating triple approach to ensure sustainable development, namely interdisciplinary, collaborative and participatory, and evidence-based. She added that all areas of development in a city are inter-related, like solutions to urban health issues require working with urban planning, transport and education. This means that one entity cannot cover all the expertise needed, hence a collaborative approach is required in order to work together.

She also added that data-management, research and knowledge sharing are important to drive effective sustainable development in cities.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

19

Cover story | Climate Change & Carbon Emissions

Stop passing the buck on climate crisis actions

Climate change and its effects are now visible more than ever before. A major cause of climate change and global warming, carbon emissions, is also getting renewed attention as countries across the world are working tirelessly to reduce their carbon footprint, hoping to bring down global carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and somehow achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. But before that, we need to assess how to plan policies at the global and local levels, and where our efforts must be focused to witness the best results

Ashley Paul Senior Sub-Editor

20 October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

T

his year’s theme for the World Habitat Day is ‘Accelerating urban action for a carbon-free world’.

And as we move further ahead in the Decade of Action, our attention is once again directed to what we should do to reduce global carbon emissions. Since 2015, countries have been struggling to reduce their footprint. However, not much progress has been made. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world saw a dip in global carbon emissions for the first time in decades. However, numerous reports have shown that even after the dip, the world is set to witness a three-degree Celsius rise in global temperatures.

This is a rise much higher than the one set by the Paris Climate Agreement – of keeping global temperature rise well below two-degree Celsius, and to aim for achieving 1.5 degrees. This could have disastrous consequences on the world’s population, especially vulnerable groups in low- and lowermiddle income countries. So what can be done? What are we failing to notice?

Who is to blame?

A historically essential question and one which has been debated upon since ages, the objective of finding the major contributor to carbon emissions is simple – targeting emissionreduction activities for the identified set of countries and allowing others to develop independently, with minimal oversight over their carbon emissions.

On the part of the developing world, with India and China as their leaders, the debate arises as they believe that a number of countries in the Asia Pacific region are developing, postcolonial countries. Thus, they have had the lowest historical contributions to emissions but are being grilled the most by many as they contribute the most to global carbon emissions owing to their full-blown development and growth activities (Page 23). On the other hand, developed countries, which are mainly part of the North American and European region, may have lower

emissions in the recent past. However, their historic carbon emissions have been mainly responsible for the climate change the world faces now. Thus, since a long time, the debate on who is responsible for the path that the world currently treads on has been burning.

Often, the other side of this debate focuses on industries and sectors which produce the highest level of carbon dioxide. Globally, the primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions are electricity and heat (31 per cent), agriculture (11 per cent), transportation (15 per cent), forestry (six per cent) and manufacturing (12 per cent).

Energy production of all types accounts for 72 per cent of all emissions.

However, efforts of reducing carbon emissions are focused majorly on the energy generation and transportation sectors and sectors like forestry and agriculture remain unnoticed. This needs to change. Governments need to understand that proper research needs to be undertaken in order to determine what emits the most amount of CO2.

Only then will policy formulation for achieving the goals of Agenda 2030 can be successful.

And even though the Sustainable Development Goals can only be achieved when everyone around the world participates equally, there is always the factor of ‘who has to work the most?’

Per capita & total emissions

Again, different countries and organisations have different answers to this question, and the major determinant of who is responsible for cutting down on their emissions the most is based on the method of calculating their contribution. As is visible from data provided on Page 22, when we rank countries based on their overall carbon footprint, the top contributors are China, the United States of America, and India. However, what must be kept in mind here is that China and India are also countries with the two highest populations in the world.

Moreover, they are also leading

the world in terms of switching to renewable sources of energy for transportation and energy generation.

Lastly, they are also home to some of the world’s largest production industries, which provide goods to countries all over the world. On the other hand, despite having comparatively lower population, being past its age of rapid industrialization and being home to a much smaller number of production industries, countries like the United States of America and the Russian Federation account for the second and fourth highest global carbon emissions respectively. In terms of per capita carbon emissions, which account for the population size and density, the top contributors are Qatar, Curacao, and New Caledonia. India ranks 147 in the world in terms of per capita carbon footprint. Therefore, simply changing the unit of consideration drastically changes the ranking of countries around the world. Nonetheless, increasing carbon emissions have also started affecting the day-to-day life of people across the world. While countries like India are home to a majority of the world’s most polluted cities, others are experiencing absurd weather events, marking the beginning of a probably irreversible climate change scenario.

Effects of emissions are visible

The city of Delhi has been experiencing some of the worst climate events in the past few months. From incessant rains to waterlogging, the problems faced

by Delhiites are mounting. Similarly, the occurrence of Cyclone Tauktae, Amphan, Nisarga, and Gulab in a little over a year is also being seen as a clear sign that climate change has begun and the time to act is now. And since cities are not only the major contributors to climate change but are also the most vulnerable to them, it is high time that city administrations begin implementing local-level climate action plans, localize sustainable development goals and stop passing the buck on who is responsible and who will cut down the most on emissions.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

21

Numbrograph | World’s Carbon Reality

Countries with highest per capita carbon footprint in 2019 (in tonnes) 38.61 31.79

29.89

27.14

25.56 20.98 20.93 20.31 19.52

17.77 16.99 16.91 16.31 16.06 15.89 15.41 14.69 14.41

14.41 14.27

1.91

Countries with highest carbon footprint in 2018 (in Gross Tonnage) China

10.06

United States of America

5.41

India

2.65

Russian Federation Japan

1.71 1.16 0.75

Islamic Republic of Iran

0.72

South Korea

0.65

Saudi Arabia

0.62

Indonesia

0.61

Canada

0.56

Mexico

0.47

South Africa

0.46

Brazil

0.45

Turkey

0.42

Australia

0.42

United Kingdom

0.37

Poland

0.34

France

0.33

Italy

0.33

22 October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Th

e

Germany

o l G

l a b

n o b r Ca

Estimated Air Pollution Impacts in the World’s Five Biggest Cities (2020)

Cities with lowest air quality (PM 2.5 concentration) 60,000

40,000,000 35,000,000

50,000

30,000,000 40,000

20,000,000

30,000

15,000,000

20,000

10,000,000 10,000

5,000,000 0 Estimated Deaths Population

Delhi

Mexico City

São Paulo

Shanghai

Tokyo

54,000

15,000

15,000

39,000

40,000

30,000,000

22,000,000

22,000,000

26,000,000

37,000,000

0

Total Deaths

Population

25,000,000

Rank

City

Country Air quality (µg/m³)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Hotan Ghaziabad Bulandshahr Bisrakh Jalalpur Bhiwadi Noida Greater Noida Kanpur Lucknow Delhi

China India India India India India India India India India

110.2 106.6 98.4 96.0 95.5 94.3 89.5 89.1 86.2 84.1

Global CO2 emissions by region Region CO2 Emissions (in million metric tons) 2000 2005 2010 2015 2019 2020

Sources: Union of Concerned Scientists;

Asia Pacific North America Europe Middle East Africa S&C America

ourworldindata.org; iqair.com, Statista

Debate

&i

7,696 6628 4789 1045 792 915

11,175 6,846 4984 1339 937 1006

13976 6475 4675 1710 1096 1174

15956 6171 4207 1987 1207 1352

17179 6019 4087 2104 1297 1244

16753 5307 3593 2025 1195 1129

ts

Bu

Ever since United Nations member countries signed the Agenda 2030, pledging to tread on a sustainable development path, numerous schools of thought have tried to assess the best ways of reducing carbon emissions in the shortest possible time. However, one of the main problems facing the world right now is adjudging which group of countries must work most on reducing their carbon footprint - the ones with the highest total carbon emissions, or the ones with the highest per capita carbon footprint. Urban Update tries to list some of the facts from both perspectives

n rde

s

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

23

Leaderspeak | Zero Emission Cities

Cities to lead ‘Race to Zero’ Cities and towns worldwide will be instrumental in reducing carbon emissions by half by 2030 and to zero by 2050. Globally, cities are increasingly showing support to ‘Race to Zero Campaign’ of the United Nations’ COP26 Climate Champions. 799 cities worldwide, including ten cities from India, have joined the campaign. Other cities must also join the bandwagon for far-reaching impact and gain access to the learnings and experiences of member cities

F

ive years have passed since world leaders agreed on a historic climate agreement in COP21. This year, world leaders are meeting in Glasgow, the United Kingdom, from October 31 to November 12 to finalize climate actions to reach climate neutrality and keep 1.5 degrees within reach. The main focus of the leaders would be to accelerate the transition from coal to clean power, protect and restore nature for the benefit of people and climate, accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles, raise climate ambition through science and innovation, and secure global net-zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach. Most of these targets need an extensive role of local governments and urban engagement.

Research agencies and analysts have been throwing complex numbers around for many years in sustainable development and climate change dialogues. But the focus now is on number zero (0). The target is to achieve Net Zero Emissions by 2050. In simple words, it means that the world would not emit greenhouse gases overall. It does not mean that the emission will stop entirely by industries and cities.

Net is the keyword. It will mean that overall emission has to be balanced by activities that suck GHG gases out of the air.

Thousands of stakeholders, ranging from private companies, regional and local governments, civil society, and others, have joined hands together to

24 October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

achieve the target. About 800 cities from more than 50 countries have already joined the ‘Race to Zero Campaign’.

Out of which, ten cities are from India.

As a nation, India is targeting many fronts. The government is planning for 450 GW installed capacity of renewable energy. Some experts even suggest that the country would need to install 5630 GW capacity to achieve the netzero target. This is a huge number, but it is when the country focuses only on electricity generation. There are multiple fronts where regional and sub-national governments can pitch in to make efficient systems that emit less GHG.

Race to Zero and Indian Cities

As many as 10 Indian cities, including

Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Surat, Mumbai, Nashik, Aurangabad, KalyanDombivli, Pune and Nagpur have joined the campaign. It is to be noted that six cities are from Maharashtra. The number of towns from Maharashtra will increase to 43 as the state government recently announced that another 37 cities will join the ‘Race to Zero’ campaign.

State Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray made this announcement during India’s Road to COP26 event, part of The Hub Live at Climate Week NYC 2021. He said that the state would focus on more investments from global companies and keep its carbon footprint in check by taking climate mitigation and adaptation measures. It is a welcome move of the Maharashtra government to announce that 43 cities

As many as 10 Indian cities, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Surat, Mumbai, Nashik, Aurangabad, KalyanDombivli, Pune and Nagpur have joined the campaign. It is to be noted that six cities are from Maharashtra.

The number of cities from Maharashtra will increase to 43 as the state government recently announced that another 37 cities from the State will join the ‘Race to Zero’ campaign

Ranjit S Chavan President, AIILSG

will become part of the campaign. In this connection, the state government released a statement saying, “The environment department will undertake a greenhouse gas emission inventory exercise for all the cities and clusters, which account for a floating population of 50 million in the state.

Within 12 months of joining, the cities will have to explain what actions will be taken towards achieving both interim and long-term pledges and commit to report publicly both progress against

interim and long-term targets, as well as the actions being taken, at least annually.”

Cities have ample opportunity to address global climate change issues.

In addition to strategic moves, they can also make their systems efficient by improving infrastructure and services by accessing green finance instruments.

There are several sectors which cities can focus on. The major ones include green building, promoting electric vehicles, making urban operations

energy efficient, and focusing on circular economy activities to reduce resource use, and efficient solid and liquid waste management.

Climate-Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF), spearheaded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, assists cities in integrating climate change policies in their planning and executing urban development projects. It also assesses their strengths and weaknesses so that the government can provide focused assistance to them. The projects and programmes of waste management, water, mobility, and energy are adjudged under the CSCAFs. The National Mission on Sustainable Habitat, one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), also assists in building efficient urban spaces in India. In addition, there are several programs at the central level.

Still, all of these programs must reach the local level, requiring the capacity building of elected representatives and municipal officials. The issue of urban governance and leadership is critically linked with the urban agenda of attaining global goals. Unless local administration has access to knowledge resources to understand the complexity of the climate change issue, it will be almost impossible to build carbonneutral cities. Every aspect of urban operation and management has to become efficient.

The role of India and its cities is going to be of much significance as it is the world’s third-biggest emitter of GHG gases after China and the USA. China has announced that it will become carbon neutral by 2060, and its emissions will peak before 2030.

In comparison, the United States of America has set 2050 as the deadline to reach net zero. The USA has also said that it will decarbonize its power sector by 2035. Though India is working relentlessly on climate action plans and growing its renewable energy capacity, India is yet to announce its deadline officially. However, the announcement is expected before the beginning of the COP26 event in the United Kingdom.

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One on One | Mahendra Singh Tanwar, Commissioner, GMC

Transcribed By Pooja Upadhyay, Trainee Reporter

‘Gazab Ghaziabad’ will be clean, green, & inclusive Rapid urbanisation is bringing more people to cities than what they were previously designed to handle. The responsibility falls on the urban local body to provide a safe and inclusive space that also harbours growth for every citizen. The Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC) has been making news for its major strides towards sustainable development of the city. From clearing out black spots of the city, improving collection and management of electronic waste, to working steadfastly to tackle air pollution, the city corporation is on its way to become a leading example of how a city can be transformed. Abhishek Pandey, Editor, Urban Update, interviews Mahendra Singh Tanwar, Commissioner, Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation, to understand the strategies of the city corporation and what is being planned and worked upon to make it more smart, habitable, and inclusive 26 October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

You have said on public forums and in media that you want to transform the city from ‘Zila Ghaziabad’ to ‘GAZAB Ghaziabad’.

What does this mean?

When we say ‘Zila Ghaziabad’, the connotation does not leave a very positive impression of the city; and, since branding is very important in this fast paced world, we decided to make a different kind of connotation, a punch line, where people can connect, and therefore decided on ‘GAZAB’. Moreover, at the time of our decision, we also decided to reflect our corporation’s strive to improve sports infrastructure in the city and therefore introduced the full form of ‘GAZAB’ as ‘Ghaziabad, Active Zila, Active Bharat’.

We are witnessing A lot of changes in the NCR region. If we look at India’s urban story, where there are various kinds of initiatives, visions, and missions.

How do you see ‘GAZAB Ghaziabad’ taking all these missions along in the pursuit of building a city of its own capacity and its own unique image? What are the exclusive features of Ghaziabad that you are focusing on?

Every city has its own set of unique problems, challenges, and potentials.

Geostrategic location of the city of Ghaziabad is very interesting. It is a gateway to Uttar Pradesh (UP), and the first municipal corporation on the way from Delhi to UP. The location provides the city with huge potential for growth and development in terms of infrastructure and importance. In terms of what is the demand, Ghaziabad is known for its industries and as a residential space for people working in the National Capital Region because cost of living is comparatively less here.

The city is striving to supply what is required for its growth such as basic infrastructure and basic amenities for people residing and working in the city.

Therefore, the corporation has a huge responsibility of providing facilities in all the spheres of life like roads, electricity, water, cleanliness, etc., in a sustainable manner.

Talking about cleanliness under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), where the Government of India started a regular competition among cities, how is Ghaziabad making efforts, taking initiatives to improve its ranking in the Swachh Survekshan? And how will the city address the number of challenges that come with the opportunities due to its location?

At one point in time, Ghaziabad used to be one of the dirtiest cities in the nation owing to its rapidly increasing population and industries. However, the city has been improving in terms of cleanliness over the years since the introduction of SBM. Currently, the city is performing pretty well in that Mission, considering that the city ranked 1st in SBM among cities in UP in 2018. Even though our ranking went down a bit last year, we are very hopeful and working hard to achieve a better rank in the Swachh Survekshan this year.

As far as challenges are concerned, population pressure is definitely the biggest challenge. But this challenge can be dealt with by proper availability of data, and basic amenities and infrastructure, and we are very well prepared to deal with those challenges.

With rapid urbanization and rural-urban migration, the problem of pollution and other climate change related issues is something that cannot be avoided by Ghaziabad. What are the major challenges that you see evolving in relation to climate change issues? What is your strategy to address them and what do you think could be the possible solutions?

Observing the pie chart of pollution, one can note that it is an interdepartmental issue. A single pie chart of air pollution can be divided into various parts, like vehicular pollution, dust, burning of garbage, industrial pollution, etc. It is a complex subject requiring engagement of multiple departments. We are focusing on

all the problem areas which are the responsibility of the corporation. For example, we have started marking areas which report huge amount of garbage burning. We have also introduced an efficient system of garbage collection and transportation. Moreover, we are introducing proper garbage processing plants/places in the city to ensure that each kind of waste reaches its appropriate destination instead of getting incinerated or landfilled, thereby adding to the pollution. The city has come up with a unique and first-ofits-kind concept of ‘Garbage Factory’.

It is based on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), and income based model, which implies that no money is spent on processing the waste and instead money is generated due to processing of all the waste.

With regard to vehicular pollution, we have gradually completely shift from diesel vehicles to CNG based vehicles and e-vehicles. Very soon, in fact, Ghaziabad will become the first city in India to have e-vehicle based door-to-door collection of all kinds of waste.

We are also using funds from the 15th Finance Commission to decrease the quantum of dust in the city. We are planning to lay down perforated tiles on kacchi patri across the city to reduce the generation of dust. Moreover, with the help of certain machines, we are collecting dust particles suspended in the air in excess amount and reusing it in construction of tiles in our construction and demolition waste plants. As a corporation, we are playing our part, but it is also essential for other departments, like the UP State Pollution Control Board and the Department of Transport, to chip in for getting desired results.

You rightly said that urban governance is a complex issue as the involvement of multiple stakeholders and institutions raises many challenges. Public participation is an important area which needs attention. In your city, how are citizens enabled to connect with the corporation?

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

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One on One | Mahendra Singh Tanwar, Commissioner, GMC And, how does the corporation reach out to its citizens for taking their suggestions on issues of their interest?

city like Ghaziabad developing a financially sustainable model for undertaking its own projects?

We started ‘Jan Chaupals’ from October 2020. This mechanism was introduced to boost conversation between the corporation and the citizens of the city.

The Jan Chaupals are held at various parks across the city between 08:0010:00 on Sunday mornings. With these meets, the corporation came to know about various problems or issues that citizens face. We have been analyzing their issues and what is the basket of their problems that enables us to plan how we can address all of them. The corporation interacts with people on social media, the official portal, mobile applications, etc.

Citizens can connect with the Nagar Nigam (municipal corporation) and contribute to the city’s development in various ways. If citizens pay their taxes on time, the corporation will be able to use the funds thus generated for the general development of the city. We are also promoting the ‘Ganda na karna bhi saaf karna hai (Not littering is also a way of cleaning up)’ slogan to prompt people to avoid littering in the city. I personally believe that 5000 people cannot clean the waste dumped by 25 lakh people. Everyone needs to play their role for making and keeping a city clean and prosperous.

Be it a house or a corporation, if your financial health is good, you will play wonderful roles. In Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation, I have observed three things. Firstly, we need to focus on tax base and tax rate. There are around a total of five lakh households in the city. Out of these, only around 3.5 lakh households pay taxes. To solve this issue, we have implemented property tax management system, where Geographic Information System (GIS) based mapping is being used, and we are giving unique identification number to each property - be it residential, commercial or mixed property. Through this, we are focusing on improving the tax base. At the same time, the tax rate is also lesser in Ghaziabad as compared to neighboring municipal corporations. So we have to increase our tax rate as well. Once tax base and tax rate are rationalized, our revenue will increase manifold. Apart from this, we will have to find more avenues of income such as parking, advertising, nigam plazas, etc.

Secondly, we have to cut our expenditures and develop a good fiscal policy. But this does not mean that we will earn less and spend less because that is not a sign of prosperity and financial stability. It means that we will not spend more than our revenue. Since we do not have any loans or liabilities, our strategy is to earn more and spend more for overall development of

Municipal corporations in India often face financial constraints if they wish to start a project on their own. How do you see a

Ghaziabad used to be one of the dirtiest cities in the nation owing to its rapidly increasing population and industries. However, the city has been improving in terms of cleanliness over the years since the introduction of SBM

28 October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

the city.

Thirdly, apart from local resources, we expect some funds from the state and central governments through the 15th Finance Commission, or under various government schemes like the Smart Cities Mission.

Recently, Ghaziabad became the first city to list ‘Green Bonds’ on the Bombay Stock Exchange. How is it going to benefit the city?

What are your plans for the 150 crore raised from the bonds?

In view of finding more avenues of income, we focused on public funding.

We listed ourselves on the Bombay Stock Exchange and raised over `150 crore. When we open ourselves to the market, there is an increase in financial discipline. The bonds were named as ‘Green Municipal Bonds’ because we were utilising these funds to convert a sewage treatment plant into a tertiary treatment plant. Around 40 million litres per day of water from this plant will be taken through piped networks and supplied to around 1700 odd industries in the Sahibabad Industrial Area within the next two years.

The present scenario around these industries is that the ground water level is continuously depleting, and the Central Pollution Control Board and other environmental agencies discourage usage of ground water. So these industries will most likely shut down in the near future or shift their businesses to other areas. Therefore, we decided to supply industrial water to the industries to ensure their survival.

We are moving towards post pandemic setting and many cities in the world are talking about various international agendas like green rebuilding or 2030 Agenda. Building urban resilience for pandemics and disasters is extremely crucial. People had to leave their informal settlements because they did not have access to basic needs like food and water. This was at a time when governments and authorities kept asking people

to wash hands regularly with water. Many of them had no access. Therefore, the pandemic became unfair to them in many ways. How do you plan to address the needs of urban informals if and when the pandemic strikes again?

On the basis of our experience in Ghaziabad, I will say two things. We not only ensured access to basic daily and civic amenities to informal settlements in our area, but also worked on crisis management. We were focusing on providing basic amenities like general cleanliness, drinking water, sewage management and many more. Apart from this, our crisis management efforts comprised of arranging for medical oxygen cylinders. For this, we started an initiative in Ghaziabad, where we were collecting empty cylinders from the people, getting them filled with oxygen and supplying these to requisite sites. These cylinders were then given back to the needy. Apart from this, we ensured regular sanitization and cleaning of public spaces. As far as resiliency is concerned, I think that it is a continuous process.

There is growing importance of public spaces in many cities of Europe like Barcelona, and Paris.

In these cities, public spaces are abundant but in India, they are scanty. In your view, what is the importance of public spaces?

How would you like to build them for local citizens?

As you said, these open spaces are very important. To make these spaces available, we have focused on threefour areas. First of all, there is a huge chunk of government land which is either encroached or misutilised. So we have identified a few of such lands belonging to our corporation and are currently in process of removing encroachments from those lands so that they can be converted to public spaces.

In the past year, we have cleared around 50 hectares of land in Ghaziabad, the total market value of which is `100 crores. The next phase is to develop these lands into parks, playgrounds

We listed ourselves on the Bombay Stock Exchange and raised over Rs 150 crore. When we open ourselves to the market, there is an increase in financial discipline. The bonds were named as ‘Green Municipal Bonds’ because we were utilising these funds to convert a sewage treatment plant into a tertiary treatment plant

and other types of open spaces for the people. Ghaziabad already has around 1250 parks, which makes it one of the greenest cities in the country.

Ghaziabad’s per capita green cover is also very good. However, there is much pollution in the city which we have yet to work on.

There are sufficient parks but not many playgrounds in the city. We also need to focus on this aspect, and not only in Ghaziabad, but in other Indian cities as well. We are planning to develop around 100 playgrounds for the children of the city.

There are around 50 water bodies in Ghaziabad which were also encroached or badly maintained. We started developing these water bodies and 46 water bodies surrounded by green spaces have already been built. We are regularly ensuring that clean water is available in these water bodies and also planning some recreational activities like boating.

My last question is that if you want to prioritise three targets or priority areas for the city, what will those be? What is your roadmap for achieving them?

The foremost priority is cleanliness.

We are focusing on effective collection, transportation, and processing of garbage. We are striving to develop an

ecosystem where we can process our daily waste so that we can make our city a dumpyard-free city. This is our first priority and we are very close to achieving this vision.

Second priority is to provide every household of the city with clean water, and within the next two to three years, we will be able to successfully provide 24x7 good-quality tap water supply.

Along with this, an equal focus would be given on sewage management and treatment.

Third priority is improving the general life of our residents by providing more open spaces, playgrounds, green, safe and clean parks, good market areas like clean nigam plazas, dedicated markets for various businesses, and proper street lights in the city so that people of the city can travel anytime and feel safe and secure.

Apart from this, we wish to rationalize the taxation system in the city, wherein services should be easily accessible to the people. We are also focusing on enterprise resource planning to successfully map our assets both below and above the surface. This is how we need to manage our assets successfully and provide better services to the people of the city.

[You can also watch this interview on Urban Update’s YouTube channel]

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

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ARTICLE | Carbon Neutrality in Public Sector

PSUs: Driving India’s quest for carbon neutrality Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in India have been significant stakeholders in the country’s economic development. Due to their presence across some of the key sectors such as oil, gas, energy, metal, minerals, and infrastructure, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission is an area of concern. Thus, their role is crucial in making India carbon neutral Hitesh Nigam | Reporter

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ne component of India’s goal to achieve the targets set by the Paris Climate Accord is to ensure that 40 per cent of our total installed power capacity is sourced from renewable sources by 2030. India’s current energy mix of non-fossil fuel based sources, including large

30 October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

hydropower plants, is already at about 37 per cent.

“Global 250 Greenhouse Gas Emitters” report by Thomson Reuters released in 2017 found three Indian PSUs (Coal India Limited, National Thermal Power Corporation Limited and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation) in the list of 100 companies with most amount of carbon emissions in the

world. However, the carbon footprint of these firms is inevitable in a country like India where the economy is still developing.

Success story of CIL

In 2017, CIL (Coal India Limited) accounted for more than 80 per cent of the total carbon emissions in India, which is a shocking number. On the

other hand, according to the data sourced from US-based ‘Global Carbon Project: Carbon Di-Oxide Information Analysis Centre’ released in 2020, CIL accounted for just 0.65 per cent of the total carbon emissions in India. The numbers are quite evidently showing the success of the organisation in managing the emissions, which can be credited to various initiatives and steps taken by them.

One of the initiatives taken by CIL in its journey was to retrofit its dumpers, which are heavy vehicles used for transporting coal from mines, with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) kits. This was done in collaboration with GAIL (Gas Authority of India) Limited and BEML (Bharat Earth Movers Limited), which is also an inspiration for other organisations. In addition to this, the company tweeted last year that CIL has planted more than 99 million trees in an area of 39,842 acres, which has happened through extensive plantation drives by the organisation over several years.

In the beginning of the year, CIL also lined up and approved an investment of `26,550 crore for diversification and mitigating environmental hazards to bring sustainability in its operations.

All these efforts have brought great results as far as mitigating carbon footprint goes and has helped the company in becoming an example for other organisations and PSUs.

Current situation

The COVID-19 pandemic played a major role in reducing carbon emissions in and after 2020 in India.

India even outpaced the global shrink in carbon emissions during the COVID-19 pandemic with an estimated contraction of 8.2 per cent in the amount of carbon emissions. However, the report highlighted that India was already on the path of reaching negative carbon emissions before the onset of the pandemic. Environmental Policy Statement adopted by various PSUs in the country has also positively added to the mission of achieving carbon neutrality.

Indian Railways is on the right track Abiding by the mission of becoming ‘net zero’ carbon emitter by 2030, the Indian Railways (IR) has taken several initiatives in cutting the possible emission sources. The central government has also pledged for the complete electrification of IR by 2021-22 so as to reduce the usage of carbon emitting fossil fuels in the transport and logistics sector. IR has extensively stridden towards proliferation of solar energy by installing almost 111 Megawatt (MW) capacity on the rooftop of various stations, according to IR. In terms of land based solar projects too, IR has taken various initiatives, including a 3 MW solar project at Modern Coach factory, Raebareli; and a 2 MW project in Diwana, Haryana, as per data released by IR. IR has also installed a total of 103 MW of wind energy projects across the country, including a 56.4 MW project at Jat Sangli, Maharashtra; and a 26 MW project at Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. With all these projects, IR won 14 awards under three categories at the National Energy Conservation Awards 2020. IR has presented a fine example of management of one of the largest railways in the world and in making it carbon neutral.

In addition to policy formulation, capacity building is also an effective step in order to bring about large scale impact. Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE), an apex professional organisation which represents central government PSUs, collaborated with a German development agency named GIZ in September this year in order to sensitise PSUs and train their officials to cut carbon emissions. As PSUs are part of the ‘hard to abate industry’ and have major presence in sectors like coal, gas, and crude oil, the carbon trading initiative unveiled by the Government of Gujarat seems to be effective. Under the programme, the state government put a cap on carbon emissions and allowed the sale and purchase of permits by the companies to remain inside the cap. On these lines, a programme for the whole country will surely help in reducing emissions and air pollution.

Way forward

PSUs are the backbone of India when it comes to power generation and most of these industries are emission extensive due to which the responsibility lies on them to balance production with sustainable alternatives. PSUs under the Ministry of Power have also been

given in-principle approval by the Ministry to bid on renewable energy power projects based on their balance sheet strength, according to the Minister of Power.

Raising the concern for minimising carbon emissions of PSUs, New Zealand came up with an initiative on similar lines in order to make its PSUs carbon neutral by 2025 under the Carbon Neutral Government Programme. It is backed by $200 million State Sector Decarbonisation Fund, which will assist in the replacement of coal boilers with sustainable options as well as replacing the government’s petrol car fleet with hybrid or electric vehicles.

Conclusion

The success story of CIL has a lot of learnings and gives hope to the country as well as to the world with regards to achieving the targets of the Paris Climate Accord. Creating and adopting sustainable alternatives should not be delayed further as experts have already predicted that the goal of limiting global warming to under 1.5 degree Celsius is hard to achieve at the current pace.

India has gathered good pace and is making efforts to realise the mission on time, with PSUs sitting in the driver’s seat; it is high time other countries try to catch up.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

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ARTICLE | I People Participation

Reduction in CO2 emissions requires people engagement Owing to ever-growing anthropogenic activity, the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere has been quickly increasing over the last century, resulting in drastic increases in the Earth’s temperature, causing global warming. Keeping in mind numerous reports on carbon emissions, the onus of reducing the same falls on cities of the world Pooja Upadhyay | Trainee Reporter

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orests, power generation (fossil fuel combustion), transportation (fossil fuel combustion), agriculture (livestock, farming, rice cultivation, and crop residue burning), water bodies (wetlands), industry, and urban activities (building, construction, transport, solid and liquid waste) are all substantial sources of GHG. The GHG footprint is calculated by combining CO2 and non-CO2 gases and converting them to carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). As a result, the GHG footprint is a measurement of the impact of human activities on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

According to Worldometer, developed nations like the United States of America, Australia, United Arab Emirates produce the highest amount of per capita CO2 emissions. It has been noted that the world’s cities generate most of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions due to concentrations of population, buildings, factories, and commerce.

It is being estimated that by 2050, about 70 per cent of the world’s population will go about their daily lives in urban spaces only. This puts stress on the need to introduce sustainable practices and development in cities across the world, especially considering the fact that as of 2019,

32 October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

urban dwellers were responsible for around three-quarters of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Extreme weather phenomena have begun to strike Indian cities with alarming regularity. If global warming continues, a record 360 million people would be exposed to excessive heat in 142 Indian cities by 2050. Temperatures in three Indian cities—Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi—have steadily increased during the last five decades.

Since 1960-70, the temperature in Chennai has risen by an incredible 0.9 degree Celsius.

Experts believe that cities require radical decarbonisation measures such as banning fossil-fuel vehicles, transitioning to mass transportation, and progressively switching to 100 per cent renewable electricity, all of which can dramatically reduce carbon emissions. According to a dataset prepared by Norwegian University of Science and Technology in collaboration with Shinshu University, Yale, and Lund University, per capita carbon footprint is highest in Hong Kong. Same was found to be lowest in cities like Yingkou (China), Nottingham (England), Leipzig (Germany), and Dublin (Ireland).

Leipzig

A structural change panel in Germany that advised that coal be phased

out completely by 2038 opened up the possibility of a post-fossil fuel transformation for Leipzig, which is located in a mining region. Leipzig began an energy upgrading procedure in its housing sector several years ago, and the city now plans to phase out coal-fired district heating by 2023. This heat transition can make Leipzig one of the first post-fossil fuel cities.

To begin with, Leipzig has attempted to cut GHG emissions in the municipal building stock using a ‘self-governance’ model. Second, Leipzig has been attempting to minimise GHG emissions by enlisting the help of others.

The municipal government provides advice services to private property owners, housing firms, and renters in order to enable and encourage them to make energy-saving improvements to their buildings or reduce their energy use. The city has also introduced advisory services for janitors.

Furthermore, the city has enhanced citizen involvement, such as through the civic platform ‘Leipzig think farther’, which was founded in 2012 and focuses on energy retrofitting.

Nonetheless, the city has made relatively limited use of its resources, and there has been no general and long-term strategy for increasing the retrofitting rate in the city since the early 1990s.

Nottingham

create unique Climate Change Action Plans for their respective districts.

Energy and Buildings, Transportation, Flood Resilience, Nature-Based Solutions, and Resource Management are all included in this Climate Change Action Plan. Since one of the biggest challenges in tackling climate change is public acceptance of the risks and the associated demand for solutions to reduce these risks through policy and services, Codema, energy agency of Dublin, worked with the four Councils and the Dublin Climate Action Regional Office to run a number of public engagement events in each local authority area. In a leading example, younger citizens have also engaged with the climate change agenda by participating in the #FridaysForFuture campaign, including rallies outside government buildings. With the aim to develop further links with younger citizens in enhancing climate change awareness, the city started working on developing educational initiatives in partnership with schools and youth organisations.

Nottingham City Council has established the goal to become the first carbon-neutral city in the United Kingdom by 2028 in response to the climate and environmental crises. In 2017, Nottingham had managed to reduce total CO2 emissions by 41 per cent (49 per cent reduction in per capita emissions) from 2005. In response to the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2018 Special Report, the City Council issued a public proclamation on the climate emergency and replied in January 2019 with a new carbon-neutral aim.

While Nottingham does have the lowest ownership of cars for a city outside of London, its efforts in shifting towards clean public transport and innovative commercial and domestic vehicle trials are seemingly paying off. To assist decarbonisation of transportation, Nottingham City Council has invested in a fleet of hydrogen and biogas buses, a £15 million investment in one of the UK’s

largest electric bus fleets, and a cycle hire programme and bike storage centres. It has additionally switched its entire tram network to 100 per cent renewable power and introduced a Workplace Parking Levy for residents driving their cars to work, where all revenues earned by the charge are used only for public transportation projects.

The city is also home to the UK’s first Energiesprong homes, a unique approach to housing rehabilitation that provides existing homes with netzero energy performance. Moreover, the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Energy Grants provide energy audits and related efficiency grants to local businesses in the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire area.

Dublin

The Climate Change Action Plan for Dublin City Council was endorsed by City Council members in May 2020, making it the first time when the city’s four local authorities collaborated to

Conclusion

Much like the cities mentioned above, Indian cities have also been developing specific action plans of their own on climate change since 2009. Well laid out plans that are visionary and can keep the work going every year towards reducing carbon emissions are essential to save the planet. However, any city council’s direct activities and plans can account for only limited reduction in a city’s CO2 emissions. Therefore, a city’s policies and plans can only hope to succeed if it is something the whole city can embrace, engage and be involved in. The contributions from residents, community, the business sector and all organisations of the city are critical.

The Community Council can help, lead, and set a positive example, but in order to reduce carbon emissions, the entire city must participate.

Therefore, partnerships, engagement, behavior, and cultural changes are to be included at the core of any agenda or development plan.

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ARTICLE | Innovative Emission Reduction

India spurring low-carbon innovation on a large scale The low-carbon transition could, and in some cases is already, driving a boom in innovation and emerging businesses, and a parallel shift in skills and the labour force. Innovations for lowcarbon transition is about moving from waste management to resource efficiency, sustainable business models, and the right support frameworks for innovations to be widely adopted. This includes addressing potential skill gaps through training and labour market policies Radhika Matta | Editorial Assistant

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t a global scale, the waste management sector contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, estimated at approximately three to five per cent of total anthropogenic emissions in 2005. Although minor levels of emissions are released through waste treatment and disposal, the prevention and recovery of wastes (i.e., as secondary materials or energy) avoids emissions in all other sectors of the economy. A holistic approach to waste management has positive consequences for GHG emissions from the energy, forestry, agriculture, mining, transport, and manufacturing sectors.

Every waste management practice generates GHG, both directly (emissions from the process itself) and indirectly (through energy consumption). However, the overall climate impact or of the waste management system will depend on net GHGs, accounting for both emissions and indirect, downstream GHG savings. A range of activities focussed

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on waste and climate change are currently being led by manufacturing units, both small and big.

However, there is paucity of a cohesive approach, which has resulted in gaps, duplication, and regional disparity in programmes offered. A central mechanism is needed to collaborate with existing organisations to ensure accessibility to and dissemination of relevant information across the globe, effective use of resources to achieve climate benefit through integrated waste management, promotion of best practices, and rapid transfer of simple, effective, proven technologies and knowledge to developing countries.

Several companies are extracting resource efficiency from their waste and, in the process, saving the environment from devastation.

Recycling PET bottles

Rupinder Singh Arora, Chairman of Arora Fibres Ltd, has been recycling discarded plastic bottles into polyester staple fibre since 1994 after he saw the colossal damage to the environment from mountains of bio-degradable plastic being burnt in the country.

“Apart from a commercial interest, converting PET (polyethylene terephthalate) into polyester has a huge positive impact on the environment,” says Arora.

Arora brought the technology to India after tying up with Korean company Mijung, which is specialised in converting PET bottles into polyester yarn. His factory in the industrial belt of Silvassa in Dadra & Nagar Haveli has the capacity to process 18,000 tonnes of plastic a year and he plans to increase that to 48,000 tonnes by next year. Arora says the environmental benefit of recycling discarded plastic bottles is enormous. “By recycling 10 billion PET bottles, one can save one million square yards of landfill space and eliminate 0.25 million tonnes of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere,” said Arora while speaking to Business Today.

Waste water treatment

Similarly, Wabag is helping companies clean up their act by reusing waste water. It is sometimes said that water, and not oil, is the real liquid gold today. Water technology company VA Tech Wabag would certainly agree.

The Chennai-based company recycles industrial and municipal waste water either for reuse as drinking water or to plough back for industrial use. Last year, the company recorded revenues of `1000 crore in India. Six years ago, it stepped in to help Indian Oil Corp’s Panipat refinery when a farmers’s lobby in Haryana raised a hue and cry over the company’s waste water discharge.

The water treatment company recycled the entire plant’s waste water discharge

and made it as pure as drinking water.

It will build an effluent treatment plant with recycling facilities for Reliance Industries’ purified terephthalic acid plant in Dahej and a tertiary treatment plant for the Reliance petrochemicals complex in Hazira.

Waste to fuel

Waste management company Hanjer Biotech Energies realised that they can recycle garbage from landfills to produce energy and kickstarted India’s first green power plant in Jalgaon in Maharashtra this year. The biomass power plant had been closed because of the unavailability of husk rice, the raw material for fuelling the plant, which pushed Hanjer to turn to refuse derived fuel (RDF) from municipal solid waste to generate seven megawatts (MW) of green power. The concept of converting waste to energy is not new, but Mumbai-based Hanjer plans to take it to a new level following the success of its experiment in Jalgaon. It plans to take over four to five closed biomass power plants in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to generate around 40 MW of green power and then set up a green power plant in

Surat, Gujarat, that runs completely on fuel derived from solid waste. Usually, 20 to 30 per cent of supporting fuel such as coal or oil is used along with RDF to generate power. The plant in Surat will use green fuel derived from waste from three of the company’s solid waste processing facilities in the state to generate 15 MW of power. The plant has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will earn carbon credits for Hanjer. “Of the total 9100 tonnes of waste which we process, around 18 to 20 per cent is green RDF. With the amount of green RDF produced after recycling the waste, we can run six 15 MW power plants,” says Irfan Furniturewala, Founder and Chairman of Hanjer.

Besides these establishments, the informal sector plays an important role in the management of plastics.

The recycling rate of plastics in India is expected to be around 60 per cent, even though 94 per cent of plastics that we use are of thermoset category and can be recycled. It is important that urban local bodies (ULBs) integrate these informal sector workers, increase their capacities through training and workshops, and provide more material

recovery facilities in cities. Further, the collection and recycling of waste in India is mostly governed by energy and economic linkages, thus leading to non-collection of low-value plastics like low density-polyethylene bags or even multilayer plastic packagings. Thus, collection of such low-value items will have to be supported through financial models which are sustainable (like the Extended Producer Responsibility or deposit refund schemes) to make their collection and recycling feasible.

This will not only help cities manage waste efficiently but will also uplift their social and economic fabric. ULBs should also link these informal sector workers through government schemes for health insurance and life policies to provide a sense of safety and security.

They should link these informal workers into formal chains through waste management concessionaires, self-help groups or non-government organisations (NGOs), and assure that these workers of last resort are uplifted and moved to formal work.

Despite ambitious targets, policies and instruments that would enable a transition from conventional waste management to an integrated and comprehensive resource management are still missing. Moreover, this will require innovative policy mixes which do not only address different end-of-pipe approaches but integrate various resource efficiency aspects from product design to patterns of production and consumption. The development of a policy mix for a resource efficient economy requires systematic identification of resource relevant policy fields as a first step.

A lack of proper treatment infrastructure and sufficient capacities for the municipal waste that is generated is a crucial barrier to environmentally sound waste management. Strong policy signals are needed to create long-term predictability for investment and change so that materials, such as plastics, glass, metals, paper, wood, rubber and other recyclables, reenter the economy as secondary raw materials at competitive prices.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

35

ARTICLE | Reducing emissions at sea

Indian Navy moving towards sustainable living Over 90 per cent of world trade is carried out by the world’s ocean with over 90,000 marine vessels. Since most ships are diesel based, they emit carbon dioxide which significantly contributes to climate change and harms water health. Indian Navy uses hydro-diesel ships and is migrating towards electric combustion in the coming years. They emphasize the need for reducing their carbon footprint in their day-to-day activities for sustainable growth Shivi sharma | Editorial Assistant

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he shipping industry is the lifeblood of the global economy carrying over 90 per cent of world trade. It is also one of the most polluting industries. Shipping alone is responsible for over 1830 per cent of the world’s nitrogen oxide pollution and nine per cent of the global sulphur oxide pollution. A 2018 study led by Dr James Corbett, Professor Emeritus, University of Delaware, found that ship pollution causes about 14 million cases of childhood asthma and 4,00,000 premature deaths a year — from lung cancer to cardiovascular diseases.

That is more than 1000 deaths a day, although other estimates are lower.

The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) is the main international convention that ensures the prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes. In other words, they are responsible for keeping shipping pollution levels in check.

Over the past two decades, the Indian economy has witnessed unprecedented growth which has spurred energy demand. The Government of India has formulated several policies to reduce its carbon footprint by incorporating

36 October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

alternate sources of energy that do not harm the environment. In order to set an example for other eminent players in the industry, the Indian Navy is setting an example by actively striving to reduce their carbon emissions.

For achieving this goal of a clean and green navy, they have formulated several policies such as the Renewable Energy Generation Indian Navy Environment Conservation Roadmap (INECR). Under this, the Indian Navy aims at reducing its energy consumption and diversifying its energy supply. To better understand the efforts of the Indian Navy towards becoming carbon neutral, Urban Update contacted a senior official of the Southern Command of the Indian Navy.

The Indian Navy uses hydro-dieselbased engine ships, he informed.

Typically, there are three categories of ships based on the type of engines they have - steam turbines, blast turbines, and diesel engine based. In the near future, the Indian Navy will also be migrating towards electric combustion ships to reduce the use of fossil fuels in its operations. Any vehicle that uses fossil fuel-based engines has a significant carbon footprint. The shift towards hydro-diesel-based ships will significantly help Navy in ensuring

water health and safeguard the environment. The shipping industry has such high pollution level because the majority of operating ships are diesel-based. Prior to using hydro-diesel ships, the Indian Navy used to keep the emission levels in check by cleaning the engines regularly. Through this, the carbon emissions were also reduced considerably.

The Navy disposes of its waste depending upon the type of waste they have collected. Most ships have incinerators wherein the combustible matter is burnt which reduces the volume of waste. Modern incinerators have inbuilt features that filter out particles from the smoke generated.

Moreover, the Navy also runs sewage plants wherein the waste from ships as well as residential complexes is sent for treatment. The procedures of the aforementioned plants are in accordance with the MARPOL Agreement. The water waste generated in the process is collected by sludge barges and disposed off when the ship comes near the harbor. Hard waste from the ship is collected and handed over to the municipal corporation of the area around the harbor. The Navy’s Kochi base houses a treatment plant that can convert water waste into manure and

then sell it off at a nominal cost to the farmlands. The plant also recycles plastic items converting them into sheets that are then sold off to buyers and are brought back to the industry.

The area in which Kochi’s base is settled originally had several blocked channels with plastic thrown in them by tourists.

The officer informed that the Navy hires individuals who are responsible for collecting the plastic from the area and sending it over for recycling. 24 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects consisting of both rooftop and landbased solar panels are under execution at various shore establishments of the Navy under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. During afforestation drives at Naval stations, more than 18,000 plants have been planted over the past year, which is being nurtured by Naval personnel and would mitigate an estimated 365 tonnes of CO2. Furthermore, several naval offices ask their employees to

come in on a cycle to the office at least once a week, thereby making them aware of the need and the ways to reduce their carbon footprint.

Conclusion

As the Indian Navy strides towards sustainability by employing cleaner energy sources and establishing treatment plants, we, as a society, need to encourage this trend and incorporate its learnings into our daily lives. Keeping the emission figures in mind, the industry is overall working on formulating guidelines that would steer them towards lowering its impact on the environment. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) recently released the ‘Greenhouse Gas Strategy’ that aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2030. Another policy issued by IMO is designed to cut the shipping industry’s carbon emissions by emphasizing the use of alternative fuels. According to

industry specialists, a possible solution to reduce the overall emission output of the ship is by using exhaust emission technology. Through this exhaust emissions are captured and treated of air pollutants such as sulphur. It can be retrofitted to existing ships, benefitting companies wishing to incorporate the technology with existing fleets.

Humans instinctively have a tendency to explore the farthest corners of the earth. Exploration is key to human existence. Setting off on the sail for knowledge, resources and more land, travelling also become imperative to the society.

This did not pose as an issue for many years until pollution levels bagan to rise at an unprecedented rate. There is a need to find a way to sustain the travel in such a way that it does not harm the environment. The industry should adapt and adopt the technological advancements and look for cleaner and efficient energy alternatives.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

37

ARTICLE | Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0

Why India needs zero-waste cities, not garbage free cities

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On October 1 – a day before Gandhi Jayanti – Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a big announcement. The flagship and the equally lauded-critiqued central government program: Swachh Bharat Mission will now have a sequel. The Prime Minister said that with the Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0, his government aims to make “urban areas garbage-free”.

He stressed that in the second phase - “garbage mounts in cities will be processed and removed completely as part of SBM-U”. Also going on to say that presently - “we are processing about 70 per cent of the daily waste;

38 October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

the next step is to take it to a complete 100 per cent.” The proposed program will also focus on source segregation of solid waste, utilising the principle of 3R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), scientific processing of all types of municipal solid waste and remediation of legacy dumpsites for effective solid waste management. As per the official release, the outlay for SBM-U is tipping to be around Rs 1.41 lakh crore.

While admittedly rightly timed – in terms of the needs of Indian cities the flagship mission aims to signify a step forward in our march towards effectively addressing the challenges of rapidly urbanising India and the emerging climate challenges we are witnessing. But like the problem with

sequels, they are almost always worse than the original. SBM 2.0 might fare worse than its predecessor. The latest avatar of the mission lacks an on-ground understanding of waste management in its early conceptualisation, builds castles on the failures of the SBM 1.0 and is reliant on technology – privatised ‘models’ for solving complicated urban governance issues.

Moreover, if smart cities are any cue to go by, the SBM 2.0 will be another scheme that aims for speed and scale but will fail to deliver and eventually come to a grinding halt. The SBM 2.0, with its push towards garbage-free cities, might lose the focus on recycling and decentralised handling of waste.

Garbage-free cities will remove waste

Aravind Unni Urban Poverty Thematic Lead, IGSSS

Tikender Singh Panwar Former Deputy Mayor, Shimla

from our sight but will not effectively handle the waste using sustainable means. The below mentioned are why, unless redirected, the SBM 2.0 will fail to address the waste management of Indian cities.

First, Indian cities must aim for the right models. Indore, according to the rankings released by the Government of India, remains very dubiously the cleanest city in the country, consistently. The SBM 2.0 cannot be based on the (in)famous Indore model that scores well for waste collection and transportation but not the segregation and recycling of waste.

Indore is not an aberration; most of the top cities featured in the Swachh Survekshan rankings share a similar story - ensuring that the waste is picked up by employing an army of trucks and machines for processing. Keeping waste as garbage- what is out of sight, is true, out of mind.

Second, it is only decentralisation that will work and not (re) centralisation of the process. Effective waste management is expensive, often comprising over 20 per cent of municipal budgets, and that is usually invested in heavy vehicles for transportation and centralised collection, processing, and management practices. All of which favour the transportation contract lobbies that would want this ‘lift and dispose’ system to continue. This will only accelerate under the garb of

‘garbage-free’ cities.

The mission here needs to comprehend that with the increasing waste generation of four per cent a year and most of the waste generated - nearly 60 per cent is organic with low calorific value – decentralized households and the policy must prioritize community waste practices. Therefore, rather than being garbage-free, we should aim for zero waste communities where all organic waste is composted while only the inorganic waste is collected and recycled.

Third, with lots of money and resources riding, thrust for technologycentric waste management needs to be handled cautiously. There is a threat of using outdated and obsolete waste management practices, which are now not employable in the global north but are looking for markets in the developing contexts. Like how companies or consultancies operating at scale were at an advantage to usurp smart cities projects and proposals but failed to deliver. For example, grappling with legacy waste landfills in Indian cities, solid waste incineration is often presented as a ‘quick-fix’ solution to reduce rapidly growing waste volumes while producing energy. However, incineration is among the worst approaches cities can take to achieve both waste reduction and energy goals.

It is expensive, inefficient, and creates environmental risks. The residents of South Delhi in areas around Sukhdev Vihar, Ishwar Nagar, New Friends Colony, Jasola, Sarita Vihar and Haji Colony stand as testimony to the wasteto-energy (WtE) plant in Okhla. There is a need to steer clear of such expensive and unscientific practices for SBM 2.0.

Fourth, the Prime Minister mentioned the mahanayaks – the waste pickers (workers), who lead the solid waste management in Indian cities, and acknowledged their contribution to our cities; especially during the COVID pandemic. Disappointingly, he failed to talk about the need for mandatory inclusion, skilling, and taking into the formal fold the waste pickers who manage to recycle around

20 per cent of waste without any state recognition. The country’s informal sector workers in waste play a crucial role in waste management and are the real green warriors, but operate without protective equipment such as gloves, masks, and other essentials that offer dignity and safety. Major cities’ existing models do not promote the inclusion of waste workers, but instead incentivize mechanization. When adequately supported and organized, informal recycling can create employment, improve local practices, reduce poverty, and substantially reduce municipal spending.

Fifth, rather than focusing on techled solid waste management practices, the SBM 2.0 needs to focus on getting the basics right and adopt a paradigm that incentivized cities with the 5R’s (and not 3): refuse, reuse, recycle, recover, and reduce. And not forgetting to address the most critical ‘R’ – Responsibility, that the generator – be it households, markets, or companies – are accountable to deal with their own waste.

Reorienting the SBM 2.0 to move towards zero waste communities and not garbage-free cities must be the call. The mantra of speed and scale can work if communities and people are involved, and the effort promotes a decentralized – localized approach to waste management. We need to emulate principles of 5R’s, decentralized segregation, recycling, and compositing with mandatory inclusion of workers. Maybe we need to talk about alternate models like that of Alappuzha with 100 per cent segregation with community-led biogas plants and composting; of worker collectives that are cost-effective and sustainable, like Pune; city planning with the spatial allocation of working with waste and protecting livelihoods like Bengaluru. This alone will ensure that the sequel is thought through and not simply rushed.

[The views expressed are the author’s own. They do not purport to reflect the views of Urban Update.]

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

39

ARTICLE | Climate Migrants

Net-zero commitments by cities essential to address issues of IDPs

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he COP26 is just about three weeks away. As world governments sharpen their negotiation skills to bargain for better deals for their respective countries and regions, I would suggest that cities look into the recently submitted report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement. In this column, I have been writing how internal displacements due to climate change and other reasons will impact the cities. They need to accommodate more and more people and have the task of providing them with a life of dignity, along with creating sustainable environments for the cities to thrive.

Cities, where more than 55 per cent of world population now lives, contribute the most to the climate crisis and, at the same time, bear a lot of devastating impacts caused by climate change. While different governments have taken different stands on the netzero commitments, and it is going to be a hot topic during the COP26, cities need to understand the implication of the growing number of migrants they will receive if emission targets are not achieved.

The concern that there is lack of due international attention on internal displacement prompted the Secretary General of the United Nations to announce, on May 10, 2019, the formation of an independent high-level panel to examine the growing crisis and to suggest concrete and practical recommendations to member states, the United Nations system and other relevant stakeholders, particularly where it is protracted. The first-of-itskind report has just been submitted to the UN Secretary General in

40 October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

September 2021.

The report informs that a staggering 55 million people were internally displacement at the end of 2020.

Conflicts, violence, disasters and climate change are said to be the major drivers for these people to flee their homes and search for new places to stay.

The recent decades have been experiencing more new displacements than before. These internally displaced people (IDPs) are forced to leave their histories, geographies, sociocultural settings, livelihoods and secured societies to land in relief & rehabilitation camps, unorganised and informal settlements, and untold miseries. Among other challenges for rehabilitating them, local governments have to face with problems of the most vulnerable people such as women, children, persons with disabilities, elderly people, so on and so forth. The above report informs that women and girls make up over half of the world’s IDPs, five million IDPs are living with disabilities, an estimated 2.6 million are elderly, and over 30.5 million are children and youth. Cities, where most of these people would land up, have their tasks cut out. Inclusive and sustainable growth models are the need of the hour. The added population to cities will increase the pressure on local natural resources and basic amenities.

With climate change-triggered IDPs on the rise, the challenge is to make these models ready at super-fast speeds.

events and related disasters, sea level rise and droughts are forcing people to migrate out of their homes to relatively safer places. The number of IDP caused by climate change has been growing exponentially. It is estimated that, of the 40.5 million new internal displacements in 2020 – the highest annual figure for 10 years – almost 30.7 million people were displaced due to weather-related disasters. That is an increase of about 5.8 million over the previous year’s figure of 24.9 million, which itself had jumped by almost 7.7 million over 2018. The World Bank’s signature Groundswell Report on internal migration due to climate change estimated in 2018 that the number of internal climate migrants, or the IDPs, could be more than 143 million by 2050. The very latest update of the Groundswell Report, released in September 2021, projects this to increase to 226 million people by 2050.

In fact, desertification alone can cause about 135 million people to migrate worldwide in a decade.

Climate change, the Groundswell Report says, is an increasingly potent driver of migration in six world regions, and will force these people to move within their countries. “Hotspots of internal climate migration could emerge as early as 2030 and continue to spread and intensify by 2050. By 2050, sub-Saharan Africa could see as many as 86 million internal climate migrants; East Asia and the Pacific, 49 million; South Asia, 40 million; North Africa, 19 million; Latin America, 17 million; and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 5 million,” the report further says.

Climate change induced internal displacement

Cities to benefit from netzero commitments

A crisis in need of attention, local solutions

With

increased

extreme

weather

Cities have grown as a separate world,

Ranjan K Panda Convenor, Combat Climate Change Network

much different than the rural areas they have drawn their populations from.

While the national governments are at different stages of their commitment to net-zero emission targets, cities should chart their own targets and climate action plans. By 2050, it is estimated that about three quarters of the world will be living in cities. This may actually be higher if the emission targets set out in the Paris Climate Accord are not met. At the moment, they already contribute to about 80 per cent of the global GDP and consume two-thirds of global energy.

This also means they are the largest emitters of carbon. That is more than 70 per cent of the global total at the moment. Committing to ambitious net-zero targets has therefore become essential for cities. Energy is a major area where cities need to work more strategically than ever before.

To meet the needs of a growing population and to keep the economic engine running, cities will need massive growth in urban energy infrastructure.

This energy infrastructure would be built not only in cities but also all across the world. If cities keep opting for fossil fuel based energy sources such as coal, they will keep contributing to the increased Green House Gases (GHGs) emissions.

This would also mean more and more people will be facing displacement, both due to global warming impacts and local drivers associated with coal mining and coal fired power plants.

Cities should therefore push for a rapid transition to green energy sources both inside their geographical limits as well as in other areas from where they draw power. That would help them tackle the IDP challenge along with that of climate change.

Towards solution

The International Energy Agency says in a report that local governments are uniquely placed to deliver on the net-zero agenda by strengthening their own systems and strengthening cooperation with other stakeholders, including regional and national governments. With regard to dealing with the IDPs issues, the UN High Level Panel recommends making solutions a nationally owned, whole-ofgovernment priority. Cities, where the decision making process for the nation takes place and which determine the fate of everybody, should take a lead in this. This is also because they have to host most of the IDPs. The very first thing governments need to do is to create a strong database of IDPs by recognizing them. “States are urged to acknowledge IDPs and situations of internal displacement and ensure that action to address displacement is a national priority, recognizing it as both a duty of the State to its citizens and residents, and a critical step for development, peace and prosperity,” recommends the High-Level Panel. It is essential to strengthen the effective use of internal displacement data. According to the

Panel, without understanding the extent of displacement, who is most affected and how (with attention to age, gender and diversity in particular), and the needs and capacities of displaced populations, it is not possible to develop effective public policies, operational plans and responses.

With a dynamic data generation process, the governments should plan strategic actions to provide the IDPs with all support needed for their socioeconomic development. This should be inclusive, transparent and accountable.

In this, the cities could take a lead role by not only providing financial support but also sourcing climate finances from national and global sources. The national government could help the cities in case of the latter sources. World governments and other stakeholders participating in the COP26 should discuss all these and build effective resilience and finance systems to help the IDPs get justice. They have not contributed to climate catastrophe, but they bear the maximum brunt of its impact.

[The views expressed are the author’s own. They do not purport to reflect the views of Urban Update.]

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

41

Infocomm India | Resilient Cities

Urban Resilience: Key for sustaining future cities All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) organized a webinar at Infocomm India GoVIRTUAL 2021 on September 15 on ‘Key Considerations for Future Urban Development and Planning in India’ Team Urban Update

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he webinar addressed some of the most relevant question of current times - how COVID-19 pushed urban planners to think about redesigning more resilient cities, and how investing in green and energy-efficient infrastructure can help build a sustainable city? The aim of the discussion was to enhance new and improvise the already existing initiatives that have been taken up for making cities resilient.

The webinar was moderated by Abhishek Pandey, Editor, Urban Update. He commenced the session by inviting the esteemed panelists for the discussion, which included Golagani Hari Venkata Kumari, Mayor, Greater Vishakhapatnam Municipal Corporation; Saleha Sapra, Co-Founder, City Sabha; Sanyukta Bhatia, Mayor, Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC); and Prof (Dr) Ashwani Luthra, Director, Centre for Sustainable Habitat, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

Bhatia was invited first to share her views on urban resilience-related initiatives that have been undertaken so far to build resilience in Lucknow city in the post pandemic world. She started off by expressing her concern over the situations that this pandemic has landed us in. “It made us a prisoner of many restrictions. However, the habits that we accustomed ourselves to during the lockdowns are a part of our lives now,” said Sanyukta Bhatia.

According to her, governments are

42 October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

working towards devising plans and strategies in combating such unprecedented situations and curbing its impact. However, these situations have forced us to think new strategic infrastructural planning. In Lucknow, especially, LMC has taken COVID-19 into special consideration while devising and executing any infrastructural plans. Keeping in mind the significance of green infrastructure, LMC has taken up the responsibility of reviving and taking care of 1000 parks and utilized government funds for their development. Moving ahead, she mentioned the surge in deforestation across Lucknow and said that LMC has improvised an artificial forest with a diverse variety of plants and trees to counter it. “Till this year’s World Environment Day, we had sown around 1.5 lakh plants and trees in the artificial forest,” Bhatia said. This forest has opened its doors to a variety of animals and birds, thus adding to the city’s green infrastructure.

Golagani Hari Venkata Kumari talked about proper urban planning, which is crucial for the development of cities and the country. “Our cities are diverse in geographic location and nature. Our first thought should be to make them sustainable, while keeping other key factors of planning and urban development in mind. We have seen how COVID-19 impacted countries. Taking a lesson from this, we need to strengthen disaster risk reduction, health infrastructure, and build resilience in face of such unforeseen situations in future.

As COVID-19 has been such an unpredictable disaster for all of us, in order to become sustainable, we need to accept and acknowledge the change and plan accordingly,” Kumari said.

Speaking of COVID-19 management, she mentioned that they had the advantage of ward system and village ward secretariat systems in Andhra Pradesh, which the ULB incorporated in creating awareness and conducting surveys and various other voluntary services. “To make cities resilient and more sustainable, we should focus on green growth health management, environment management, low carbon development, and good governance,” said Kumari.

Next, Prof Ashwani Luthra presented his remarks on urban development and planning. He mentioned that demographic and accumulated social and environmental changes are important to be taken into consideration and it is also important to take note of social and cultural transformations.

It is in this regard regionalization of urbanization has to be followed. “We are forgetting regional planning in master planning. We need to shift from master to strategic planning approach,” he said. “If people would have taken note of these plans, they would have been more successful. We see floods and we term them urban floods because the terror is not taken care of. We must take note of climate sensitive planning,” Prof Luthra added. He appreciated Lucknow’s initiative for developing green infrastructure and said that green agenda should be formulated

by all the states and cities in the true sense and all urban local bodies and stakeholders should take responsibility of these initiatives. For making human settlements and cities inclusive, making places livable should be the aim, which includes waste management to resource efficiency, optimality, good governance and financial security as its key constituents. “Our cities are still lagging behind because issues such as livability and livelihoods are in question. We are stressing more on smart cities but this may not be enough, as attention is not being paid to 40 per cent of population which is still below poverty line. The gap can be bridged only when infrastructural needs of this segment of population are met. Only then can we be sure of moving ahead. These are some of the key considerations in urban planning of cities,” concluded Prof Luthra.

Taking the discussion further, Saleha Sapra flagged off by quoting Mahatma Gandhi -“Future of India lies in its villages.” Tweaking it she said, “It lies in its communities and this is one of the most granular lessons that COVID has presented us with. According to her, for urban areas to be resilient, the

concept of VUCA world, which stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous world, must be realised. The pandemic has brought migrant crisis, fractured urban informal economy, and collapsed public health systems.

There have been multiple levels of unseen consequences, which include lack of governance and demographic spaces. “We must adopt the bottom-up planning approach and educate people of the places they reside in so that they know what is required to be done to develop it further. This way, we will be able to develop better communities and safer environments,” said Sapra.

Taking questions from the attendees, Pandey posed the first question to Sanyukta Bhatia and asked the percentage of population which participated in the development of parks in Lucknow. Replying to the question, Bhatia said, “When we undertook development of parks, residents came forward with great enthusiasm because people learnt how ‘health is wealth’ ever since COVID-19 spread across the country. That is why people have inclined themselves toward such initiatives.”

Pandey posed the next question

to Prof Luthra asking, “What are the policy levels ULBs should focus on in making cities livable and resilient?”

Prof Luthra replied saying, “ULBs are financially staffed bodies and they get funds for the projects but we are yet to see their independent development policy. Local bodies might have their own policies but they are confined to execution only, not in drafting policies. However, the major challenge is decentralization. Some cities’ local bodies have taken up their own policies but for their execution, they still have to get them approved from the central government. Thus, decentralization is the need of the hour.”

Sapra was asked how cities can achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. She answered by saying, “For building on benchmark governance at the lowest level, implementation bodies and citizens have to be acquainted with evaluation and assessment tools.

This can be done only when process of planning is made more accessible in public domain.” The webinar brought out various important factors which must be kept in mind while planning urban development in India in the near future.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

43

CITYNET 4.0 | Inclusive cities

All India Institute of Local Self-Government organised the fourth webinar in the series of monthly webinars on ‘Localising SDGs’ in collaboration with CityNet. The webinar based on the topic ‘Imperatives of Building Inclusive Cities’ was organised on September 28, 2021 Team Urban Update

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he panel of the event consisted of Dr Dnyaneshwar Mulay, Member, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC); Rushda Majeed, India Representative, Bernard van Leer Foundation; Arbind Singh, National Coordinator, National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI); and Sneh Gupta, President, Indiability Foundation. The event was moderated by Abhishek Pandey, Editor, Urban Update.

Pandey began the discussion and said that building inclusive cities is important as urbanisation is expanding with full pace and cities contribute to almost 55 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Asia. A big population of the cities in India is living in informal settlements which are in need of proper housing, sanitation, sewage management, etc. Public spaces

are also not inclusive for every section of the community and human rights is an important component of liveable cities which has not been addressed extensively, he added.

Dr Dnyaneshwara Mulay began by speaking about inclusivity as the basic concept on which cities should form in present times. Building human beings in these cities is more important and should follow the principle of Mahatma Gandhi to develop people of a region and address their shortcomings.

Smart cities should be accessible to vulnerable sections of societies such as the elderly population, children, women, and people with disabilities (PwDs), he added. One of the major differences between the cities of India and other countries is the presence of extreme poverty. He added that although the Government of India has formulated various programmes for

cities and their holistic development, the implementation of these policies still remains a problem. Resettlement of people due to development of the region is also plagued with loopholes as private builders and stakeholders exploit the poor. Inclusivity is all about compassion and equality among all sections living in a society, he added.

Rushda Majeed continued the discussion by introducing the Bernard van Leer (BvL) Foundation, which has been working for children since decades, and how cities can be made inclusive for them. She added that early childhood is important and maximum development of a child’s brain is done only at this stage. She introduced the concept of Urban 95, which entails building cities keeping in mind the height of 95 centimetres (cm), which is the standard height of a threeyear old child, as per World Health

Experts discuss need to build cities-for-all

44 October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

Organisation’s standards. The project mostly considers core areas such as public spaces, mobility, neighbourhood planning, and air quality, she added.

Majeed added that BvL Foundation sees through the lens of healthy child development, including the services for babies and toddlers, service for caregivers, family-friendly planning and design, and healthy environment for children. She also cited various examples where the foundation has worked with cities such as Mumbai, Pune, and Udaipur, in order to intervene and develop the public spaces for children in parks with dedicated playing spot and necessary amenities.

Talking about some changes in the existing system, she said, “For example, we can work on the timing of red signals at traffic lights. We can increase the timings of red signals so that someone holding a child or carrying a baby can cross the road easily.”

Arbind Singh was the next panellist to speak. He began by talking about the urban informal sector and said that the first thing to improve when we talk of inclusive cities is the exploitation of the informal sector by police, municipal officers, etc.

He added, “The country has a law on street vendors and their management which mandates that there has to be a town vending committee and 40 per cent of the members should be street vendors. It also says that no decision should be taken without due approval of all its members, with municipal commissioner as chairperson. This is a first-of-its-kind act which mandates citizen participation.” However, most of the town vending committees do not fulfil the criteria set by the Street Vendors Act (SVA) 2014, he added.

He also emphasised the importance of Grievance Redressal Cell (GRC) headed by the District Judge and mandated by the SVA 2014, which is an important body as far as the needs of street vendors are concerned.

Singh added that until the livelihood of the informal sector is improved, inclusivity in Indian cities is a farfetched dream. The urban economy is all about the livelihood of people as

a majority of migrants move to cities in search of work, whether it is street vendors or other job seeking population, he added. There are loopholes as far as the GRC is also concerned as many street vendor representatives complaint about the absence of an office for the GRC and lack of attention on the part of the administration. Cities are the engines of growth but these engines should be available for everybody and not limited to the rich and privileged section, he added. Singh said, “We need ambitious municipal officers who feel seriously about the inclusivity of cities and everybody has the right to live with equality.”

Sneh Gupta talked about the disability scenario of the country and talked about how inclusive cities with space for disabled can be made a reality.

She explained the taboo attached with PwDs in relation to the names they are called, the stereotypes concerning them being ineligible for equal opportunities, etc. She added, “Education is really important for children, irrespective of their disabilities, and just 21 per cent of the total Indian schools comply with the education standards for disabled children. This number goes on decreasing as we go from primary (60.47 per cent) to higher secondary (5.07 per cent) and universities (one per cent).” She added that the overall mission of Disability Foundation is to integrate children with physical disabilities into the mainstream society at a normal footing.

Gupta talked about the social change program initiative named ‘Image’,

which stands for Indian Mixed Ability Group Events. It is more of a skill development platform which uses sports and other activities and which emphasises on youth with disabilities so that they can spearhead their own social inclusion. She added that through ‘Image’, the disabled children will be integrated into the economy and they are taught that in order to be included in the mainstream community, they have to be productive. Sports and plays are used in the programme to teach them the importance of leadership, respect and communicate without the need of verbal medium. She added that these disabled children have impacted the lives of many in various sectors such as healthcare, where they made tip-tap hand washing booths for villagers and the results were more than satisfactory. Similar initiatives are being taken in the fields of education and gender, disability awareness, environmental awareness, etc. Gupta also showed a short video to the panellists and attendees which showed these children with disabilities and their achievements in various fields, including personal agriculture farming, education, and sports.

Through the webinar, Urban Update brought to the limelight the importance of thinking about everyone while planning cities. We must understand that in any urban settlement, there is diversity in the way people interact with their surroundings. And these surroundings must be developed appropriately to facilitate interactions of different kinds.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2021

45

Urban Agenda

Reducing emissions in a growing economy is possible Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor

Since a long time, numerous experts have believed that adopting sustainable practices and economic growth at the same time is impossible for countries at large. This is also one of the main reasons why numerous industries have hesitated in rapidly shifting to carbon neutral activities.

However, a recent report by the World Resources Institute (WRI) has shown that close to two dozen countries in the world, including developed, developing and under-developed countries, have managed to grow while reducing their overall carbon emissions.

According to the report, the United States of America (USA) is the largest country out of the 21 countries that made it to the list, to experience multiple consecutive years of ‘decoupling’ economic growth from carbon emissions. Between 2000 and 2014, the period of consideration of the research

by WRI, USA witnessed economic growth of 28 per cent along with a six per cent reduction in carbon emissions. In the case of the United Kingdom, the economic growth reached 27 per cent while its reduction in carbon emissions stood at 20 per cent. The case of an even smaller country, the Czech Republic, is more encouraging as it witnessed 40 per cent economic and -14 per cent carbon emission growth.

The report states that the US Energy Information Administration forecasts that moving to a cleaner electricity system after 2020 by adopting the measures of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) would bring about a sustained period of GDP-GHG decoupling. CPP implementation is expected to reduce total US energy-related carbon dioxide emissions by a further six per cent between 2020 and 2025, while GDP increases by 13 per cent in real terms over the same period. However, it must be noted that there is no single formula or policy that can aid in decoupling GDP and emission growth rates. In the case of Denmark, for example, the rapid installation of renewable energy plants across the country helped it in decoupling. On the other hand, Sweden’s carbon taxes, among its other ambitious policies, supported the country’s reduction in carbon emissions amid economic growth.

About 90 per cent of the countries which are in the WRI list adopted the method of reducing the share of industries in their GDP, thereby reducing carbon emissions, and increasing the share of other sectors. The stand-out cases of Bulgaria and Uzbekistan, however, show that despite increasing the share of industries in the overall GDP of the country, GDP-GHG growth can be decoupled to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

The case of India cannot be left unnoticed here either. In an interview with Reuters, Rameshwar Prasad Gupta, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, revealed that between 2005 and 2016, India’s carbon emissions fell by 24 per cent as compared to 2005 levels. This means that in the coming 14 years till 2030, India will have exceeded its emissionreduction targets, becoming the only country in the world to do so. This has been possible due to the government’s multiple policies and schemes promoting a switch to renewable sources of energy, electric mobility, and reduced emission-practices like sustainable waste management.

It must be kept in mind, however, that the actions taken by close to two dozen countries will not be successful in reducing climate change and global warming. This is a war that has to be fought on an equal footing by each and every individual. Until we realise this, the 2030 Agenda will be nothing but an agreement on paper.

46 October 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in

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