Indian cities get prepared for a sustainable, low-carbon future at national workshop in Rajkot, India

15 -16 September 2009, Rajkot, India

On 15-16 September 2009, more than 100 delegates from across the country gathered at the national workshop on “Creating Low Carbon & Sustainable Indian Cities” at the Imperial Palace Hotel in Rajkot, India, to share and discuss their experiences in the design of sustainable cities with low carbon emissions.

The workshop focused on:

  • Sharing progress of Urban Climate Project: Building Clean and Efficient Cities funded under the Asia Pacific Partnership program by the US department of State
  • Share the phase 1 results for the City Level Carbon Emissions Reduction Project and to launch the project for satellite cities, Rajkot was one of the satellite cities under the project.
  • Inform the various participating city governments about implementable actions to achieve low carbon and sustainable development.
Philipp Douglas addressing local leaders at the national workshop in Rajkot

At the workshop, Dr. Philip Douglas, First Secretary, Climate Finance and Technologies, spoke on the importance of building coalition on renewable energy, energy efficiency and climate among the cities. He stated that "People's awareness was vital to fight Global Warming. Climate has been changing drastically due to carbon emission across the Globe"

The programme also witnessed the participation of subject experts on energy efficiency renewable energy as speaker, including Mr. V.Subramanian, Secretary General InWEA, Dr. Vatsal Bhatt, US Department of Energy and Prof. Srinivas V. Chary, Administrative Staff College of India. The programme also received participation and speakers from Royal Danish Embassy,India, IDFC Ltd. and GTZ India.

The project cities Thane, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam presented on various Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programmes and schemes under implementation as part of the project on “Carbon Emission Reduction” by the British High Commission and ICLEI South. Rajkot Municipal Corporation also presented various energy efficiency measures as part of the“Urban Climate Project”, supported by the US Department of State.

Participants at this workshop presented 17 cities, municipal corporation and municipalities across India, including Thane, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Coimbatore, Indore, Vadodara, Ahmadabad, Nashik, Solapur and Bhavanagar.

The workshop was jointly organised by ICLEI South Asia and Rajkot Municipal Corporation, supported by British High Commission & US Department of State.

For more information on Roadmap activites in South Asia, please click here.