Delhi govt to revise 2019 Climate Action Plan: Rai

New Delhi: The rapid environmental degradation over the last few years has prompted the Delhi government to revise the 2019 Climate Action Plan and a draft policy on it will be submitted to the Centre in the next two weeks, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference here, Rai said climate change is no longer an abstract concept but is directly impacting human lives. “The rapid environmental degradation we have witnessed over the past few years prompted us to initiate a review of the 2019 policy.

A stakeholder group was formed and meetings were held to discuss the necessary updates,” Rai said. He emphasised the severe impact of recent extreme weather events, including unprecedented heatwaves and record-breaking rainfall.

“The reckless exploitation of nature in the name of development has led to consequences that are now being directly felt by people,” Rai said, highlighting the urgent need to address climate change.

“Given the seriousness of the matter, we have drafted a new policy which will be submitted to the central government,” he added. The revised plan will focus on seven key areas -- energy, urban planning, water, forests, transport, agriculture, and health, Rai said. The previous plan focused on six key areas: energy, transport, green cover, urban development, and projected changes in weather patterns. Delhi’s previous climate action plan for the 2010-2020 period was finalised in 2019 after a seven-year stakeholder consultation. Work on a new plan began in 2021, with the first draft completed in 2022. It took around two years to finalise the consultations and fine-tune the plan.