Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on September 25 said that cities need to reduce dependence on central funds for their financial needs to address climate change.
He said that there was a need to complement traditional revenue streams with innovative instruments and more diverse access to finance for climate action at the urban level.
Addressing the first Urban Shift Forum (Asia) programme here, Mr. Puri observed that for cities in the Global South, it is critical to localise the climate agendas. “No discussion on urban planning can be removed from fiscal health. Cities depend heavily on central grants to meet basic financial needs. This needs to change,” he said.
The Union Minister said that for India, the ‘Panchamrit’ Action Plan was the anchor for climate response with the thrust centred on rapidly urbanising cities. He pointed out that the results were already showing.
The Panchamrit Action Plan pledges to reach 500 gigawatts (GW) of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030, meet 50% of India’s energy requirement from renewable energy (RE) sources by 2030, reduce the carbon intensity of the economy by 45% below 2005 levels by 2030, reduce total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030 and achieve the target of net zero emissions by 2070.
The Urban Shift Forum brings together diverse expertise, trainers and businesses to find holistic and hands-on solutions for tackling urban challenges.
The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) were among the organisations and institutions that are participating. More than 150 representatives of national governments and cities in India, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Jordan and Sri Lanka.
