Maharashtra sets up climate action cell to handhold polluting depts into reducing emissions

State has identified a clutch of government departments that by their nature of work tend to be major pollutants.

Representational image | Wikimedia commons

Mumbai: The Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government has formed a cell that will advise polluting departments on the various policy measures available to reduce emissions, and will also help formulate climate action plans in each district and city.

The stateeEnvironment and climate change department has issued a government resolution on the appointment of the Climate Action Cell, which will have five members. They will be a state government representative, a climate finance expert, a climate mitigation expert, a climate adaptation expert, and a project consultant, as per the resolution that ThePrint has seen.

The government representative, who will be the director of the cell, will be an official of a joint collector or higher rank, the resolution said.

Praveen Darade, principal secretary of the state environment department, told ThePrint, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to cut India’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2070. The intention behind forming this cell is to ensure Maharashtra plays its part. The cell will ensure there is a focussed attempt by all major departments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Darade said his department has identified a clutch of Maharashtra government divisions that by their nature of work tend to be major pollutants, and the cell will handhold these departments to modify their policies to reduce emissions.

These departments include energy, transport, urban development, housing, industries, public works and the water resources department.

Measurable targets for districts and cities

The state government is in the process of updating its “State Action Plan for Climate Change” of 2014, and the updated plan will be published in about a month, Darade said.

He added the next steps for the state’s Climate Action Cell would be to help draw up action plans for each of Maharashtra’s 36 districts and major cities.

“We plan to give measurable targets in the district and city-level action plans which local bodies and district administrators can meet. The cell will monitor their performances,” Darade said.

He said the state environment and climate change department has also started monitoring how much funds each department is allocating to climate change mitigation.