15 Action Areas under KCAP
Energy use and shift from fossil fuel sources
The phenomenal rise of clean energy technologies is reshaping how we power everything from factories and vehicles to home appliances and cooling systems. These major shifts underway today are set to result in a considerably different global energy system by the end of this decade, according to the International Energy Agency.
Disaster Risk Reduction
Climate change, urban pressure and lack of disaster preparedness are increasingly transforming natural hazards into disastrous events causing life and economic losses.
Disaster risk reduction is the concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyse and reduce the causal factors of disasters.
Drainage and urban flooding
The increasing trend of urban flooding is a universal phenomenon and poses a great challenge to urban planners the world over. Problems associated with urban floods range from relatively localised incidents to major incidents, resulting in cities being inundated from hours to several days. Therefore, the impact can also be widespread, including temporary relocation of people, damage to civic amenities, deterioration of water quality, and risk of epidemics.
Transportation and E-mobility
Reducing CO2 emissions is a growing challenge for the transport sector. Transportation produces roughly 23 percent of the global CO2 emissions from fuel combustion. More alarmingly, transportation is the fastest growing consumer of fossil fuels and the fastest growing source of CO2 emissions.
With rapid urbanisation in developing countries, energy consumption and CO2 emissions by urban transport are increasing rapidly.
Urban Housing, Building and Energy Efficiency
Housing potentially exposes and protects residents from the consequences of climate change.
Housing and communities can be designed and built to be more resilient to natural disasters, which have become more frequent and severe because of climate change.
Using energy-efficient construction methods, adopting electrically powered appliances and heating and cooling systems, and locating housing near public transit are several strategies that can reduce the impact of housing on climate change.
Urban greening and biodiversity
Green urban spaces, from parks and gardens to green roofs and urban farms, provide a wide range of benefits for people and the planet.
They provide vital space for physical and mental well being and a very important habitat for nature, including for birds and pollinators. Green space helps reduce air, water and noise pollution, provides protection from flooding, droughts, heat waves and much more.
Sustainable Waste management
The way that we manage waste is one of the most important factors that affects climate change. Improper waste management not only results in litter everywhere, but also affects our environment and results in air and sea pollution.
The East Kolkata Wetlands nurtures the world’s largest wastewater fed aqua culture system and is a unique example of sustainable waste management practice. Sewerage from the city is sent to the wetlands where waste water is recycled and used for cultivating vegetables and fishes. Link: https://ekwma.in/ek/
Improving Air quality
Pollutants not only severely impact public health, but also the earth’s climate and ecosystems globally. Most policies to reduce air pollution offer a “win-win” strategy for health and climate. Lower levels of air pollution result in better cardiovascular and respiratory health of populations in both the long- and short-term. Reducing ambient and household air pollution can also reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and short-lived climate pollutants, such as black carbon particles and methane, therefore contributing to the near- and long-term mitigation of climate change.
Health
Climate change directly contributes to humanitarian emergencies from heatwaves, floods, and cyclones, and they are increasing in scale, frequency and intensity.
Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases through better transport, food and energy use choices can result in very large gains for health, particularly through reduced air pollution.
Water management: surface and groundwater
Increased variability in precipitation and more extreme weather events can lead to longer periods of droughts and floods, directly affecting availability and dependency on groundwater.
Climate change does not only affect groundwater quantity, but also its quality. Sea level rise may lead to salt water intrusion into coastal aquifers affecting groundwater quality and contaminating drinking water sources.
Industrial Emissions
GHG emissions are attributed to the energy supply sector and other industries such as agriculture and buildings.
Reducing industry emissions depends on the ‘’sustainability transition’’ of complete value chains and on the adoption of production processes using low and zero GHG-emitting electricity, hydrogen, fuels, and carbon management.
The use of steel, cement, plastics,
and other materials and their increasing use globally play a big role in industrial emissions.
Reducing emissions can be supported by sustainable options for demand management, materials efficiency, and circular material flows.
Climate Science
Climate science is the effort by humans to understand the natural forces that control the climate. A planet’s climate is driven by the energy of the Sun falling on the planet’s surface, which varies widely depending on latitude and the season. Climate is ultimately determined by the complex interplay between that energy and the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and land masses.
Urban Adaptation / Mitigation
Climate action in cities is crucial to achieving long-term decarbonization goals and limiting global warming to below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Rapid urbanisation and uncontrolled land use have not only increased energy use and greenhouse gas emissions but also increased the susceptibility to several climate risks, particularly flooding and heat waves.
Cities account for two-thirds of global energy consumption and more than 70% of annual carbon emissions.
Communication and Advocacy
Limiting global warming to 1.5°C, for example, could be really hard for people to relate to. Therefore there is a need to frame the issue in a way that will resonate with your local audience by linking it to shared values like family, nature, community, and religion.
Economics and sourcing funds
This is based on the need for raising funds from public, private and alternative financing sources, which seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change.
This is needed for mitigation because large-scale investments are required to reduce emissions significantly. As well as is equally important for adaptation, as significant financial resources are needed to adapt to the adverse effects and reduce the impacts of a changing climate.
