How can Indian cities help fight climate change?

The challenges faced by urban India means that its cities are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Will the recently launched Swachh Bharat (Clean India Campaign) offer an opportunity for Indian cities to develop a meaningful and prudent climate agenda?

A recent study claims that, by the 2060s, there will be approximately 500 million additional people in an estimated 7,000– 12,000 urban settlements, with subsequent impacts on solid waste management, sanitation, environmental health, air and water pollution and climate change.

It is imperative that climate-change adaptation be integrated into urban planning initiatives. However, before this step can be taken, India must accept that climate change is an issue that should be integrated into its urban planning process.

Unfortunately, this is easier said than done; local authorities in India are already struggling with the pressures of development and would argue that they have little time to consider climate change, and must instead focus on local issues.

However, India’s response to global demands for effective climate change adaptation is shifting from being protective of its domestic development to a focus on co-benefits – policies that promote development as well as address climate change. Researchers also believe there is an increasing recognition of India’s vulnerability to climate change.

As climate scientists have become more certain that man-made climate change is happening, with visible impacts in India, there is an attempt to develop a nationwide debate to urge the Indian government to act on climate change.

Mission Swachh Bharat has demonstrated that it is in India’s national interest to manage waste more effectively, but can it be tied to a co-benefit model that also addresses climate change?

A 2010 report on waste, compiled by the United Nations Environment Programme, states that at a global scale, the waste-management sector makes a relatively minor contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

However, the report goes on to say that the waste sector is in a unique position to move from being a minor source of global emissions to becoming a major saver of emissions. This is due to the fact that although minor levels of emissions are released through waste treatment and disposal, the prevention and recovery of wastes (as secondary materials or energy) avoids emissions in all other sectors of the economy.

The report claims that a holistic approach to waste management has positive consequences for GHG emissions from the energy, forestry, agriculture, mining, transport and manufacturing sectors.

From a city perspective, it is clear that there is a crisis. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is growing exponentially in relation to population growth in India’s megacities. In Chennai, for example, the population growth between 1991 and 2001 was 21%, while the amount of waste it produced grew by 61% between 1996 and 2002.

Changing lifestyles, land-use patterns and technological advancements have also led to an increased complexity in the kind of waste that needs to be managed.

Shockingly, it is thought that almost three-quarters of of MSW generated in urban India is collected and disposed of in non-scientifically managed dumping grounds, and almost 70%-90% of landfills in India are open dumpsites.

In Chennai, the city where I live, 4,500 metric tons of waste is generated every day. After collection, the municipal waste is disposed at Kodungaiyur and Perungudi, the city’s two official landfills. Despite laws that mandate source segregation of waste, it is not enforced. Due to this, almost all of Chennai’s waste finds its way to the landfill, even though a large percentage of it can be recycled, up-cycled or composted. Chennai’s landfills are fast reaching maximum capacity and it is clear that there is a pressing need to find alternative waste-disposal methods.

Mission Swachh Bharat was launched with much fanfare: celebrities, ministers, bureaucrats have all rallied to its call. This is unsurprising, seeing how it resonates with our ambitions to make Indian cities world class.

It is the biggest cleanliness drive ever launched in the country. But while there has never been more national interest in cleaning up, it is important that we don’t measure success according to aesthetics alone.

Some of the criticism levelled at the campaign has focused on its need to pay more attention to waste-management practices, as well as for a deeper connect with the informal waste ecosystem that exists in Indian cities. A step further would be to investigate how this campaign could develop a co-benefits model that can effectively address climate change, for example by working with industries to adopt cradle-to-cradle design, thus ensuring a consolidated effort to tackle India’s waste crisis, one which goes beyond simple aesthetics.

The India Economic Summit takes place in New Delhi on 4-6 November. You can follow the meeting and watch live sessions on our website.

Author: Siddharth Hande is director of Supportive Cities and a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, based in the Chennai Hub. 

Image: Smoke rises from a chimney of a garbage processing plant on the northern Indian city of Chandigarh. REUTERS/Ajay Verma Chowdhuri