Nashik Launches its first-ever Climate Action Plan for Sustainable and Resilient Development

WRI India supports Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) to chart out the city’s climate commitments.

9 February 2024, Nashik: The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) today launched the city’s first-ever Climate Action Plan (CAP) as part of Maharashtra’s concerted effort towards enabling sustainable development and climate resilience across 43 cities and urban clusters in the state.

Developed with technical support from WRI India, the plan aims to promote low-carbon, green and inclusive development, along with building resilience for systems, people, nature, and businesses, in line with achieving a net-zero emissions pathway. Along with the launch of the plan, the NMC unveiled a new micro-website that details the process employed in developing this plan.

The Nashik Climate Action Plan (CAP) focuses on two key strategies: Adaptation, for enhancing the city’s capacity to cope with climate change impacts; and Mitigation, for assessing present and future scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions and developing sectoral sub-strategies and actions to reduce emissions. Based on data-driven analysis and extensive stakeholder consultations, it identifies six priority sectors for the city: Urban Heat and Greening, Sustainable Mobility, Water Resource Management, Air Quality, Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management, and Energy and Buildings. The goals, actions, and targets, for each of these sectors have also been outlined. In addition to the sectoral strategies, the plan includes a detailed framework for governance, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting. Nashik has developed a greenhouse gas inventory and conducted a vulnerability assessment to understand the extent of climate change induced risks, and the variations in exposure and sensitivity to these risks, in different parts of the city, as part of the CAP process.

The Nashik CAP was launched by Dr. Ashok N. Karanjkar (IAS), ( Municipal Commissioner, NMC), in the presence of Smt. Smita Zagade, (Additional Municipal Commissioner, NMC), Shri. Pradeep Chaudhari, (Additional Municipal Commissioner, NMC), Shri. Vijaykumar Munde, (Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Environment and Godavari Cell, NMC), Shri. Abhijit Ghorpade, (Director, State Climate Action Cell, Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Maharashtra), and Mr. Madhav Pai, (CEO, WRI India), among others.

Highlighting the importance of climate action planning and climate governance, Shri. Abhijit Ghorpade said,

“Being the third city in Maharashtra to prepare its climate action plan, Nashik has a unique opportunity to shape its future urban development while considering the impact of climate change. The plan is designed to align with important government schemes and policies. Government of Maharashtra is planning to publish guidelines for setting up a Climate Action Cell in each district and on priority in 43 AMRUT cities of the state. The State Climate Action Cell will provide all the necessary support to NMC in the implementation of the Nashik CAP.”

Shedding light on the key areas of the plan, Shri. Vijaykumar Munde said,

“The Environment Department, NMC is pleased to launch the Nashik Climate Action Plan. This is the first time a detailed Vulnerability Assessment and greenhouse gas emissions inventory has been prepared for Nashik City, which is in line with national and global commitments. The six key areas of focus outlined in the Nashik CAP lay out a clear roadmap to undertake sectoral initiatives such as Godavari River management, creating green and blue spaces, solarisation of buildings and public utilities and rejuvenating groundwater levels are projects which we will be prioritising. To ensure that it is smoothly implemented, we are setting up a dedicated Environment and Climate Action Cell for data management and research, coordinate with other interdepartmental and parastatal agencies, and monitor the CAP’s outcomes and outputs. We look forward for the support from State Climate Action Cell to set up Climate Action Cell and implement Nashik CAP.”

Emphasising the role of tier II cities in India’s urban growth, Mr. Madhav Pai said,

“I am excited about the Nashik Climate Action Plan’s transformative potential, not only for the city, but also for other tier II cities that could take forward these learnings to create their own climate action plan. This is an opportunity for the city to build capacity across multiple sectors, paving the way for sustainable, equitable and resilient development. WRI India is looking forward to collaborating with Nashik Municipal Corporation in ideating and demonstrating transformational projects, playing an integral role in Maharashtra and India’s net zero ambition.”

Anshula Menon, Tanvi Ghaisas and Mukta Salunkhe of WRI India moderated the launch and made a detailed presentation on the Nashik CAP.