City ready for climate action projects

COIMBATORE: Tier-II cities in Tamil Nadu are yet to allocate budgets and implement climate action projects, reveals a report by the National Institute of Urban Affairs under the Union housing and urban affairs ministry and the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, South Asia.

While Coimbatore, Trichy and Tirunelveli were among the 15 cities in India assessed for the climate resilience goals, Coimbatore topped the TN cities with three stars in the 'States of Cities: Towards Low Carbon and Resilient Pathways July 2023' report.
The ranking under the Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework 2.0 was based on the adaptation and mitigation measures taken by the urban local body towards climate action.
The three-star status indicates that the city has institutional mechanisms in place or is in the process of developing climate action plans.
The report pegged Coimbatore's per capita greenhouse gas emission at 1.60 Tco2e, energy consumption at 10.48 giga joules and per capita electricity consumption at 1,088 Kilowatt hour (kWh). The findings are based on the 2020-21 financial year data.
As per the report, Coimbatore city has introduced power factor correction panels to reduce power loss at the water treatment plants and sewage water pumping stations.
At 33%, the residential sector is the highest energy consuming sector in Coimbatore. Industry is the highest greenhouse gas emitter, as it accounts for 33% of the total emission.
When it comes to the civic body operations, water supply accounts for the highest energy consumption at 43% and greenhouse gas emission at 51%.
Explaining the measures taken towards climate action, Coimbatore corporation commissioner M Prathap said they had recently unveiled a project to develop Miyawaki forests at 120 open space reservation lands.
"We are now focusing on setting up green buildings. The knowledge and study centre to be opened here meets all the requirements for a green building. To improve the green cover, 40,000 trees will be planted at Vellalore dump yard after cleaning legacy waste. The civic body is already saving big on electricity, by switching to LED streetlights. To further save electricity, an automated system will be introduced to switch on and off the lights. We will implement more projects in the coming months towards climate resilience and better ratings," he said.
Tirunelveli and Trichy received two stars, which means that they have only initiated data analysis or established committees towards climate action.
Tirunelveli, which is the smallest city among the three, consumes less energy and electricity and emits less greenhouse gas. Its per capita greenhouse gas emission is 1.2 Tco2e, per capita energy consumption is 8.76 giga joules and per capita electricity consumption is 8.10kwh.
In Tirunelveli, the residential sector is the highest consumer of energy and the highest emitter of greenhouse gas at 46% and 51%, respectively.
Tirunelveli's open space improvement plan by planting more trees, and setting up biodiversity parks and urban forests has found a mention in the report.
Trichy's average per capita electricity consumption is 1,125kWh, which is the highest among the three TN cities. It is also higher than the average of 15 cities which is 1,025kWh.
In Trichy, transport accounts for 36% energy consumption, which is the highest among all sectors, whereas the highest of 33% greenhouse gas emission comes from the residential sector.
Among other cities, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara and Pimpri-Chinchwad received four stars, while Nagpur, Shimla, Thane and Udaipur received three stars, and Kochi, Gwalior, Panaji and Siliguri received two stars.