Mumbai Climate Action Plan

DISASTER MANAGEMENT/ GOVERNANCE

• GS-3: Disaster and disaster management. 
• GS-2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Mumbai Climate Action Plan

Context: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is drafting a Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP) in a bid to tackle climate challenges. It recently launched a website for the same.

Do You Know?

• Mumbai joined C40 Cities group in December 2020. 
• There are 97 cities across the world connected in C40 Cities, who are pushed to develop and implement climate action plans to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emission significantly.

What is the Mumbai Climate Action Plan?

• Amid warnings of climate change leading to extreme weather events in the city, the civic body has started preparing the Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP). 
• It will look at climate resilience with mitigation and adaptation strategies by focusing on six areas — 

• • Sustainable waste management
  • Urban greening and biodiversity
  • Urban flooding and water resource management
  • Building energy efficiency
  • Air quality
  • Sustainable mobility
• The plan is expected to be ready by November ahead of the United Nations Climate Change (COP26) conference.

Why does Mumbai need a climate action plan?

• As per a study conducted by the World Resource Institute (WRI) India on Mumbai’s vulnerability assessment, the city will face two major climate challenges—

• • Rise in temperature 
  • Extreme rain events which will lead to flooding.
• IPCC has warned that at least 12 Indian coastal cities including Mumbai will face sea rise of 0.1 metres to 0.3 metres in next three decades due to climate change.
• In February 2020, a report from McKinsey India stated that by 2050, Mumbai will see a 25% increase in the intensity of flash floods and a 0.5 metre rise in sea level, which will affect two to three million people living within 1-km from the coastline.
• Since 2007, the city has seen a constant rise in temperature mainly due to concretization, lack of green cover and housing density. The average rise in temperature is up to 1 degree Celsius in these 14 years.
• City has witnessed increase in the number of extremely heavy rainfall events. Mumbai has seen, on an average, six heavy (64.5 – 115.5 mm), five very heavy (115.6 – 204.4 mm) and four extremely heavy (> 204.5 mm) rain events per year.
• Mumbai’s climate action plan will help set a vision and implement strategies to fight these climate challenges with mitigation and adaptation steps

What is the greenhouse gas emission of the city?

• The data show that Mumbai’s greenhouse gas emission was 34.3 million tonnes in 2019.

• • 71% came from the energy sector which is mainly based on coal. 
  • 24% is from transport, 
  • Remaining 5% from solid waste management.
• As per the data, 95 per cent of Mumbai’s electricity is coal-based and needs to be shifted to renewable energy to bring down emissions.

How does BMC plan to tackle the climate challenges?

• To minimise the impact of climate change, the MCAP will focus on reduction of greenhouse gas emission by sectors, and consumption patterns, for the near term (2030), medium term (2040) and long-term (2050).
• To better adapt to increasing climate risks so as to make “climate resilient Mumbai”, following steps will be taken
  • Vulnerability assessment
  • Increasing community resilience capacities in vulnerable neighborhoods
  • Building climate resilient infrastructure 
  • Nurturing robust natural systems

Connecting the dots:

• Urban Floods: Time for a ‘sponge cities’ mission in India
• South Asian Flash Flood Guidance System
• Floods in Europe: Let’s make room for the river