2 °C target, India’s climate action plan and urban transport sector

Abstract

This paper examines climate impact of urban transport sources in India and its proposed mitigation plan to achieve 2°C reduction goal in post-Kyoto era. In 2014, global economies agreed on adopting independent national determined contributions (INDCs) and action plans to reduce their carbon emissions. Subsequently, India released its INDCs in October 2015 with a commitment to reduce 33–35% of its CO2 emission by the year 2030, compared to 2005 level. Adoption of green energy, afforestation and sustainable way of living were identified as key action points to achieve the underlined goal. However, this does not give clear guidelines for establishing sector specific targets and proposed interventions required for achieving post-Kyoto targets and measuring impacts in the near future. In case of transport sector, a strong emphasis was laid on mass-transit projects, energy efficient vehicles, bio-fuel and stringent vehicle emission norms to achieve desired results. Personal vehicles are identified and accepted as prominent contributor of air emissions; while, carbon emission and particulate matter from goods transport is equally responsible for deteriorating air quality in urban areas. Several regulatory and fiscal measure for reducing transport based carbon emission are documented; however, their adoption may affect communities and stakeholders in varied manner. Therefore, it becomes inevitable to conduct need assessment and stakeholder consultation to determine plausible challenges, prior to introducing a desired planning reforms. Further, the involved personnel in India should actively engage transport-based stakeholders during policy identification and its effective implementation to achieve desired results.