Lieu : Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research, Dharam Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi

Intervenant : Dr. Sarath Guttikunda

An unprecedented expansion of cities, linked to economic growth, is putting pressure on the already limited infrastructure and consequently on the environment – such as, the case of urban air pollution and overall growth in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the industrial, domestic, and transport sectors. In urban India, though CO2 emissions and its mitigation remain a matter of less priority, the need to address the link between the growing air pollution and health impacts like asthma, bronchitis, and premature death, should receive high priority. If the cities have to streamline environmental concerns into the framework of sustainable urban development, it needs to find win-win avenues by operationalizing the co-benefit approach, with local air pollution as a priority concern, followed by climate policies for CO2. The key to strengthen these co-benefit approaches is "information" for (a) better assessment of capacity for identifying win-win strategies, (b) better institutional management, and (c) devising rational incentive tructures. This presentation will focus on demonstrating "plug and play" information tools for the transport sector and applications for transport planning in urban India.