5 Maharashtra cities to join global ‘Race to Zero’ campaign ahead of Conference of the Parties26

Five Maharashtra cities – Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Nashik – are set to join the ‘Race to Zero’ global campaign, founded last year in December under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, state environment minister Aaditya Thackeray said in a recently held a virtual meeting with Climate Voices (a consortium of three independent environment groups operating in the state)

Five Maharashtra cities – Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Nashik – are set to join the ‘Race to Zero’ global campaign, founded last year in December under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, state environment minister Aaditya Thackeray said in a recently held a virtual meeting with Climate Voices (a consortium of three independent environment groups operating in the state).

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The announcement comes days before a global virtual summit on April 22 and 23 – set to be led by US President Joe Biden – where 40 countries will discuss efforts taken at a state-level to restrict global warming to a limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius (in light of the Paris Agreements). Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also slated to attend the event as an invitee.

Thackeray also said that the decision was taken in the run-up to United Nations Climate Change Conference - Conference of the Parties (COP26) to be held in November 2021 at Glasgow, United Kingdom.

“Cities joining ‘Race to Zero’ will seek to prevent future climate threats, create jobs, and unlock equitable, sustainable growth. These cities must publicly acknowledge and recognise the global climate emergency, keeping climate resilience in line with urban decision making, pledging to reach net zero (carbon emissions) in the 2040s or sooner,” Climate Voices said in a statement on Friday.

To bring Maharashtra’s climate action strategy in line with global standards, Thackeray revealed to Climate Voices that his government has also entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the C40 Climate Leadership Group – another global campaign in which 97 megacities collaboratively promote sustainable action on climate change. As per the terms of MoU, a draft climate action plan specifically for Mumbai is set to be prepared by August, the first for a C40 city in the Indian subcontinent.

In his discussion with Climate Voices, Thackeray reportedly also discussed developments in Maharashtra’s transition to clean energy. The state will soon float a non-conventional energy policy, involving an investment of ₹1 lakh crore (by 2025) for strengthening solar, wind, hydroelectricity and waste-to-energy infrastructure. Through these methods, the state aims to generate 17,385-megawatts power.

“We are encouraging the use of alternative clean fuels like hydrogen cell fuel while our commitment is to have a minimum of 25% of our overall energy needs to be met through solar energy by 2025. Innovative methods like solarising highways, barren farmlands and floating solar panels on our dams are a part of that effort,” said Thackeray.

Maharashtra will also soon implement its Electric Vehicles (EV) Policy, approved in early 2018, which aims to catalyse an increase in the usage of EVs to 500,000 during its five-year policy duration, and also to create over 100,000 jobs, largely through a ₹25.5 crore investment in the manufacturing sector.

In the past 50 years, drought events in Maharashtra increased seven-fold, alongside a six-fold increase in extreme floods. It is also a state that remains at high-climate risk, due to droughts and heatwaves, which impact both agriculture and industries. In the past calendar year alone, Maharashtra disbursed almost ₹13,000 crore to compensate for losses incurred due to climate change-related weather events.

What does net zero mean?

Net zero, or carbon neutrality, is an emissions target which involves the complete reduction of anthropogenic greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. To achieve this, experts say it is necessary to not only reduce carbon emissions, but also to find ways to actively reduce the load of greenhouse gases already emitted. Development of solar and nuclear energy, electric and hydrogen-based fuels, halting deforestation and actively restoring denuded forests are touchstones of the global race among countries to ‘net zero’, as part of the Paris Agreements