Context: Climate action plans are comprehensive roadmaps that outline specific activities that can be undertaken to reduce emissions and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Mumbai’s Climate Action Plan has been drafted by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) with technical support from WRI India, engaged as a knowledge partner.

• The Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP) has laid down a 30-year road map for the city to tackle the challenges of climate change by adopting inclusive and robust mitigation and adaptation strategies.

About Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP) 

• The MCAP has set short-, medium- and long-term climate goals aimed towards zero emission of greenhouse gas or a net-zero target for 2050.

It focuses on priority across six strategic areas:

• Sustainable waste management
• Urban greening and biodiversity
• Urban flooding and water resource management,
• Energy and buildings
• Air quality and
• Sustainable mobility

Features of the plan

• The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) prepared the plan with technical support from the World Resources Institute (WRI), India and the C40 Cities network.
• It concentrates on the city, its ecological, cultural and economical landscapes.
• The plan throws light on the current climate of the city called Baseline Assessment—climate and air pollution risks, greenhouse gas inventory.
• The plan then assesses future trajectories in the business-as-usual scenarios and assesses future emission reduction scenarios to make Mumbai net-zero by 2050.

Why does Mumbai need a climate action plan?

• As per a study conducted by WRI India on Mumbai’s vulnerability assessment, the city will face two major challenges—temperature rise, and extreme rain events which lead to flooding.
• The city is already witnessing a warming trend.
• The analysis has revealed a warming trend over 47 years (1973-2020) with an increase of 0.25°C per decade for the city.

What is the current greenhouse gas emission?

• In 2019, which is taken as a base year, Mumbai’s GHG emissions were 23.42 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission, which is 1.8 tonnes CO2e per person.
• Out of which, 16.9 million tonnes or 72 per cent is from the energy sector, followed by 4.56 million tonnes of CO2 e or 20 per cent from the transportation sector.
• The city’s waste sector contributes to a total of eight per cent of the total emissions.
• Most of the city’s emissions come from energy use in residential buildings followed by commercial buildings and transport.
• Electricity consumption contributes significantly to total emissions (64.3%), due to the city’s predominantly coal-based grid.

By: Shubham Tiwari