Delhi to get new plan to combat climate crisis by year-end

The environment department has already requested the Union ministry of environment and forests (MOEF) to release a fund of ₹20 lakh to prepare the action plan.

The city will have a new 10-year action plan to combat climate change ready in the next two months and the plan will be implemented by the year-end, said officials of the Delhi government on Monday.

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The environment department has already requested the Union ministry of environment and forests (MOEF) to release a fund of ₹20 lakh to prepare the action plan.

“A request has already been placed before the MoEF for the release of the fund to hire knowledge partners. Once we get the money, we will be able to hold consultations with stakeholders and ready the plan within two months. It will most likely be implemented by the year-end,” said a senior official from the environment department, asking not to be named.

The Centre, in 2009, prepared the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and asked states to prepare their own area specific plans. However, Delhi submitted its plan only in 2019, the last state to do so.

“The plan could not be implemented and it expired in 2020. Now, we are due a new plan,” the official quoted above said.

The previous plan focused on six areas, including energy, transport, green cover and urban development, and projected a significant decrease in cold days and nights and an increase in heavy rainfall in Delhi.

For the new plan, a German agency is likely to be engaged as a knowledge partner, the official said.

All extreme weather events of the past 10 years are being analysed to prepare a comprehensive plan which will focus on air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, transport issues, air conditioning, heat islands, agriculture patterns, etc., the official said.

The action plan will identify activities causing increase in greenhouse gas emissions and fix responsibilities. It will set targets to be achieved in phases over the next 10 years.

The environment department had taken eight years to complete consultations with stakeholders concerned while preparing the previous plan. Delhi had recorded its coldest day since 1901 on December 30, 2019. Since August last year, the city has been breaking weather records every month.