Strong urban transport policies will help mitigate climate change

Electrification of vehicles, levying an extra tax on vehicle purchase, no car roads and other policies can reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly

The global climate is transforming due to increased greenhouse gas emissions. Globally, the response to climate change has been through mitigation to reduce these emissions. Urban transportation is the second leading source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions due to its dependency on fossil fuels. The growing number of vehicles and road infrastructure-based supply in Indian cities is viewed as the essential driver of climate change and relevant consequences affecting cities’ sustainability.

Under the 2015 Paris agreement, India had declared its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC). INDC aims to curtail the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 33-35% by 2030 from the 2005 level. Despite the mitigation measures being taken, some climate-change effects are inevitable due to the constant feeding of emissions into the atmosphere.

In the Climatrans study done by IISc Sustainable Transportation Lab (IST Lab), sustainable transport measures for Bengaluru were analysed to understand the urban transport sector's emission mitigation potential for the pollutants CO, HC, NOx, CO2, and PM2.5. Suitable policies were identified under the planning, regulatory, economic and technological instruments grouped under four policy bundles.