The World Economic Forum (WEF) and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today to collaborate on a ‘Sustainable Cities India program,’ which will aim to create an enabling environment for cities to generate decarbonization solutions across the energy, transportation, and built environment sectors.
This project is important since it comes after India’s Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged at COP26 to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070 as a climate mitigation response.
The ‘Sustainable Cities India program’ aims to help cities decarbonize in a systematic and long-term manner, reducing emissions while also ensuring resilient and equitable urban ecosystems. Over the course of two years, the WEF and NIUA will adapt the Forum’s City Sprint approach and Toolbox of Solutions for decarbonization in five to seven Indian cities. The City Sprint process is a series of multi-sectoral, multi-stakeholder workshops that bring together leaders from business, government, and civil society to allow decarbonization, particularly through clean electricity and circularity.
The workshop series will produce a shortlist of policies and business models that cut emissions while simultaneously maximizing System Value, such as enhanced air quality or job development. City Sprints will assist in kicking off and/or speeding up net zero planning and action. The Toolbox of Solutions is used in the City Sprint process, which is a digital platform with over 200 examples of clean electrification, efficiency, and smart infrastructure best practices and case studies from over 110 communities across the world. The City Sprint approach will also allow cities to test pilot solutions, and India will be able to add 10 to 40 best practice case studies to the Toolbox of Solutions, which will be presented around the world depending on the findings.
“India is committed to becoming Net-Zero by 2070, aligning with its vision for a ‘future ready’ India set by the Honorable Prime Minister during the COP26 summit in Glasgow,” Kunal Kumar, Joint Secretary and Mission Director (Smart Cities Mission), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, said at the MoU signing event. Conversation and, more crucially, action among all actors of the quadruple helix are critical in realizing this vision of accelerating the clean energy transition.
WEF and NIUA collaboration is significant
This collaboration between NIUA and WEF is a significant step in that direction. This partnership will enable cities in India and throughout the world to learn from one another and take action in the direction of sustainable development and climate resilience.”
“India is quickly urbanizing; its magnitude and pace are unmatched,” remarked Hitesh Vaidya, Director of the National Institute of Urban Affairs. Institutions must prioritize and integrate climate resilience into the urban planning process. .
Cross-sector and inter-organizational collaborations are critical in this regard for fostering information exchange and identifying best practices that may be adopted effectively in the Indian environment. I believe that NIUA’s collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF) will be extremely beneficial because it will not only strengthen the capacities of urban practitioners in India through the City Sprint workshops, but it will also provide them with access to a global Toolbox of Solutions and connect them with other potential partners in our mission to make Indian cities future-ready.”
“New methods of public and private partnership are needed to make progress toward net-zero targets,” Kristen Panerali, Head of Energy, Materials, and Infrastructure Program – Net Zero Carbon Cities, World Economic Forum, said at the event. The City Sprint seminars are intended to bring together government and business leaders to explore and execute solutions in the areas of energy, mobility, and the built environment. We don’t need to wait for the next big thing to happen; the technology and business models are already in place. The Toolbox of Solutions will continue to improve and expand as a result of this collaboration, providing ideas to cities in India and around the world.”
According to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Risks Report 2022, densely populated countries like India that are heavily reliant on agriculture are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Decarbonization in cities is a real possibility to keep global warming well below 2°C, and Indian cities can play a significant role in achieving this aim.
Cities with a Net Zero Carbon Footprint
The Net Zero Carbon Cities initiative of the World Economic Forum (WEF) aims to establish an enabling environment for clean electricity and circularity, resulting in urban decarbonization and resilience. The program attempts to accomplish this by encouraging public-private collaboration in the energy, built environment, and transportation sectors.
NIUA’s Background
The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) was founded in 1976 and is India’s foremost national think tank on urban planning and development. NIUA aims to deliver innovative solutions to address the challenges of a rapidly urbanizing India and pave the way for more inclusive and sustainable cities in the future as a focus for the development and dissemination of cutting-edge research in the urban sector.