Greater Chennai Corporation along with Chennai Smart City Limited made Chennai the first mega city to undertake a formal assessment of their Green House Gas Emission (GHG).
The task of building the GHG inventory was assisted by C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. Emissions was captured for 3 main sectors which includes Stationary Energy, Transport and the Solid Waste Management Sector. Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions were captured.
It was assessed that Chennai per capita emissions is about 2.9 Tonnes CO2 equivalent. It was interesting to observe that Stationary Energy was the largest emitter at 61% followed by transport at 27% and solid waste at 12%.
India is a signatory to the Paris Climate Treaty which makes it mandatory for the country to reduce its emission footprint to 30% below the 2005 emissions level by 2030.
Now that Chennai has taken the lead in developing the inventory and bench-marking its emission levels. The logical next step is to align and implement projects to achieve the target numbers.
What is Chennai Doing Right?
In recent Chennai has done a wide range of activities that have already significantly reduced the emissions footprint of the City.
Stationary Energy
The electricity grid of Tamilnadu is already at about 34% renewable and the state has ambitious goals. The Greater Chennai Corporation as part of the smart city mission has already commenced the implementation of 3MW of solar roof top. This is expected to reduce the emissions footprint from the administrative buildings of GCC significantly.
Transport Sector
The Transport Department is significantly planning to significantly electrify. Public Buses are expected to become electric in the coming years.
Solid Waste Management Sector
The Greater Chennai Corporation is already making segregation mandatory in the coming months in Chennai City. This is expected to significantly reduce emissions from the SWM sector.