Kolkata will soon become the second Indian city to have a climate action plan, after Mumbai. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is set to announce the start of work on the climate action plan on June 5, World Environment Day.
The move is an acknowledgement of the heightened climate risk that Kolkata faces.
Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim will formally launch work on the climate action plan at a programme organised in the city by non-profit Environment Governed Integrated Organisation (EnGIO) with support from the Prabha Khaitan Foundation and My Kolkata.
Debasish Kumar, a mayoral council member who represented the city in the UN climate meeting at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, is expected to attend the programme. West Bengal disaster management minister Javed Ahmed Khan; German consul general in Kolkata Manfred Auster; acting British deputy high commissioner, Kolkata, Yemi Odanye; Bangladesh deputy high commissioner Andalib Elias; UNICEF West Bengal chief Md Mohiuddin; West Bengal Pollution Control Board chairman Kalyan Rudra; and former sheriff of Kolkata and EnGIO adviser Dulal Bose are the others expected to attend the programme alongside nearly 100 environmentalists, academics and experts from across the country.
The climate action plan codifies how the city should counter the increasing climate risks to its infrastructure and community, especially the urban poor, who suffer the most because of climate change.
“We are really concerned about issues like climate change and air pollution in the city. All of us have seen how the city has been affected by a series of cyclones in the past few years and hence, it is very important that we quickly prepare the Kolkata Climate Action Plan and start implementing it at the soonest. On the World Environment Day, we will launch work on the plan that is to be prepared in association with several expert organisations across the country and will also involve premier national and international climate experts,” mayor Hakim, who had earlier pledged to cut fossil fuel use in the city and switch to renewable energy, told The Plurals on Sunday.
Climate action plans are comprehensive roadmaps that outline specific activities to be undertaken to reduce emissions and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. With the announcement, Kolkata will join the league of global megacities that have already developed plans for emission cuts and adaptation to climate change.
“We will ensure that Kolkata’s climate action plan can protect its natural systems, enabling a resilient urban growth that will ensure significant reductions to the city’s greenhouse gas emissions,” the mayor said.
Pan-India experts to join
Kolkata’s climate action plan will be drafted by the civic body in the next six months, with technical support from a coalition of specialised organisations and experts, led by EnGIO, Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA). ORF Kolkata, Climate Trends, Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and Kolkata Press Club will also contribute to the exercise.
The climate action plan will focus on 15 sectors and cover key issues, ranging from urban flooding to energy. The plan aims at mitigation and adaptation through sustainable development measures across key areas like waste management, biodiversity, flooding, water conservation, energy efficiency, air quality and sustainable mobility.
“Kolkata is extremely vulnerable to climate change. City dwellers have already begun to feel the brunt of climate change with rising heatwaves, cyclones and intense rainfall. Scientific predictions say that the climate risk for Kolkata will further increase in future. Hence, it’s necessary to come up with a plan,” EnGIO adviser Dulal Bose said.
“An expert committee consisting of frontline climate experts from across the country, including those from premier institutions like the IITs and Calcutta University, will guide the plan,” said another EnGIO expert associated with the process.
Talking about his experience at the Sharm El Sheikh summit, Debasish Kumar said: “I saw how the global cities were working to counter climate change. The Kolkata Climate Action Plan, once ready, will be a great boost to countering the risks to the city.”
Mangroves in the Sunderbans
Sunderbans in focus
State disaster management minister Javed Ahmed Khan will also launch the work on loss and damage assessment in the Sunderbans at the programme.
“We recently went there and saw the scale of the impact of climate change in the area. This will only increase. We are releasing an assessment of possible loss and damage in the Sunderbans from disasters triggered by climate change. We have to keep in mind that unless the Sunderbans can be saved, Kolkata will also be in trouble,” Khan told The Plurals ahead of the crucial meeting.
“We expect the work to be finalised within a reasonable time frame and plan to help the West Bengal government and the KMC highlight it at the next COP 28 in Dubai,” said Sanjay Vashist of CANSA.
“We would also like to help the state communicate its high climate risks at the global level,” Aarti Khosla of Climate Trends said.
Nilanjan Ghosh of ORF describe it as a great initiative. “We would like to provide inputs, mainly on the economics part of it.”
The event will also mark the launch of a synopsis report on the Green Durga Puja Awards by EnGIO from 2007 to 2022. The awards have had over 40 environmentalists from across the state as jury members. Winners under the Climate for Youth Programme being spearheaded by the UNICEF will also be given their awards on the occasion.