43 cities in state to join ‘Race to Zero’ to end carbon emissions by 2050

Nagpur: Ahead of global climate meet COP26, Maharashtra has announced that 43 cities of the state will join the United Nations led ‘Race to Zero’ campaign, which aims at committing to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The announcement was made by state environment minister Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday at India’s Road to COP26 event, part of The Hub Live at Climate Week NYC 2021.Stressing that global investors are seeing Maharashtra as a potential state to invest in, Thackeray said, “While we do that, we need to keep our carbon footprint under control. We cannot keep emitting carbon and adding to the emissions of the world. So we are looking at opportunities where investments continue to come while working closely with the manufacturing companies and the population in terms of climate mitigation and adaptation.”
The minister added that Maharashtra will set an example of how subnational governments can act on climate change, despite being a massively industrialised state. Of the 43 cities, five from western Maharashtra — Mumbai, Nashik, Aurangabad, Kalyan-Dombivali, and Pune — and Nagpur have already joined the campaign earlier this year. “The environment department will undertake a greenhouse gas emission inventory exercise for all the cities and clusters, which account for a floating population of 50 million in the state. Within 12 months of joining, the cities will have to explain what actions will be taken toward achieving both interim and longer-term pledges, and commit to report publicly both progress against interim and long-term targets, as well as the actions being taken, at least annually,” stated a release by the state.
The selected cities are already part of the Union government’s AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) scheme.
Thackeray highlighted how the state has been taking initiatives to combat climate change, including the EV policy and targeting 25% of energy coming from renewables by 2025. “We are solarising highways, floating solar panels in dams, besides other small contributions towards sustainability. We are hoping protected mangroves will now be our carbon sinks,” he said.
Explaining the idea behind these efforts, the minister said that climate change action should start from cities. “This is where maximum emissions come from. Urbanisation must include rainwater harvesting, percolation, better energy systems, storm water drainage etc. We also need to protect urban forests to absorb pollutants at whatever level possible,” added Thackeray.
They will also be identifying priority actions over the next decade.
Also expressing his views on battling climate crisis, founder of internal organization Global Citizen Michael Sheldrick said, “We know that halting climate change will take immediate action from everyone. That means state and regional governments have a leading role to play in halving global emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050. Global Citizen congratulates Maharashtra and the 43 cities that are announcing their participation in the Race to Zero as part of Global Citizen Live.”
On Saturday, Global Citizen will present Global Citizen Live, a 24-hour global broadcast and streaming event featuring an extraordinary line up of artists, with performances from all over the world. Thackeray will be participating in a special event to be held at Gateway of India, Mumbai.