By IANS
New Delhi : India’s capital can learn from London about how to combat climate change, especially by improving energy efficiency in buildings and moving towards public transport, says a top British official.
Mark Watts, senior adviser to the Mayor of London on climate change and sustainable transport, said London’s local government was encouraging people to make their buildings more energy-efficient by subsidising roof and wall insulations and by providing free CFL (compact fluorescent lamps) bulbs.
There were already various schemes in London to move from private to public transport, including the large fee motorists have to pay to get into the centre of the metropolis.
Watts claimed the schemes were already working, with a five percent shift away from cars in the last five years. “This has reduced carbon emissions from the transport sector by 16 percent,” he said.
London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone held a seminar with Delhi’s Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and the chief of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Rajendra K. Pachauri here Tuesday on ways the two cities could cooperate to combat global warming.
Around the world, cities are responsible for three quarters of greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change, so reducing these emissions is the “single biggest priority for London right now”, Livingstone said.
The mayor has already announced the London Climate Change Action Plan, under which the city will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent within 2025.
On Tuesday, Livingstone announced a plan to plant trees suitable for London’s future climate. The city has seven million trees now, and there are plans to plant a million more next year.
The administrators in London had found that buildings accounted for 40 percent of the energy use in the city, while transport accounted for 22 percent.
Livingstone is now here with a delegation in an effort to partner Delhi in many spheres, including the fight against climate change. Watts said the mayor had offered the experience gained in London in this regard to the authorities in the Indian capital.