CM MK Stalin and Minister for Environment, Climate Change Siva V. Meyyanathan releasing the Climate Action Plan, in Chennai on Tuesday. (Twitter/@CMOTamilnadu)
CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday released Chennai’s first Climate Action Plan (CAP) with a roadmap of six priority areas aiming to become carbon neutral by 2050.
An official release said that the plan focused on six priority areas electrical grid and renewable energy, building energy, sustainable transport, solid waste management, urban flooding, and water scarcity, vulnerable populations, and health.
By 2050, the action plan targets harnessing 93 per cent of the total energy from renewable energy sources. It makes building more energy efficient with a target of 100 per cent of Chennai's commercial buildings using high-efficiency appliances by 2050.
To promote sustainable transport, the Climate Action Plan (CAP) has set a goal of having 80 per cent of inner-city travel by public transport, promoting walking and cycling, 100 per cent electrification of MTC's bus fleet and encouraging the electrification of private vehicles by 2050.
A mechanism would be developed to achieve 100 per cent solid waste management, increasing green cover to 35 per cent by 2050 and marking flood risk zones, and rehabilitating the population from there, retrofitting existing slum housing for heat resilience and de-centralised health infrastructure.
The release said that the action plan is a first step towards making Chennai, a climate-resilient city. The state government is taking serious steps to protect the environment.
"Through the implementation of the action plan, it will help reduce emission, climate change challenges, improve quality of life and create green jobs, " it said.
The CAP was developed with support from C40 Cities in collaboration with the Urban Management Centre, Ahmedabad, and aligns with the Paris Climate Accords, setting emission reduction targets of a 1 per cent increase by 2030, a 40 per cent decrease by 2040, and achieving a net zero by 2050, compared to 2018-19 emission levels.
