Ahmedabad enjoyed pride of place at the ongoing Climate Change summit at Copenhagen as it was among the 10 cities from across the world discussed as a model for low-carbon growth in the future. A presentation, ‘Ahmedabad — Low Carbon Society Vision 2035’, by Prof PR Shukla of IIMA, showed that Ahmedabad’s current emission of around 10.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide will increase to 61.1 million tonnes by 2035. This, if it is business as usual and there is no reduction in the current emission rate.
However, the presentation revealed that by adopting a low-carbon development plan, greenhouse gases can be reduced by 66.67% which, in turn, will also improve the quality of life in the city. The presentation showed that if the designed method is adopted and the actions planned are taken, the per capita carbon emission in the city in 2035 will be down to 1.82 tonnes. This will be lower than even the per capita emission in 2005 which was 2.09 tonnes.
Shukla, who is attending the conference, presented a low-carbon vision for the growth of Ahmedabad city. His research work presented quantitative models of how to cut carbon emissions in an emerging city with little additional investment. The measures suggested in the presentation would cut emissions without hampering the economic growth of a city like Ahmedabad. Referring to the targeted reduction of 40.7 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2035, the report said, “The largest reduction of 15.4 million tonnes of CO2 comes from reduction in energy service demand, primarily in the industrial sector.”
Talking about the possibility of adopting the carbon reduction model for other cities as well, the researchers from IIMA and Japan’s Kyoto University, said, “The aim of the study was to show how such a study, if done, could help in developing road maps to a sustainable future at the local level. The intention was also to communicate to the local policy-makers how to effectively integrate Climate Change into the development plans of the city. In this sense, the study could be replicated in other cities as well. The individual actions, however, could vary from one city to another depending upon the socio-economic conditions in the present and the assumptions about the future.”
The research team was led by PR Shukla, and had IIMA faculty member Prem Pangotra, Amir Bashir Bazaz, Prasoon Agarwal and Nidhi Agarwal as its members.
Highlighting who will be the major carbon emitters in the city in 2035 if they go unchecked now, the research suggested that the industrial sector will emit 36.8 million tonnes, transport sector will emit 12.8 million tonnes, commercial sector will emit 7.2 million tonnes and the residential sector will release 4.2 million tonnes of carbon.
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