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New Delhi : NITI Aayog and the International Transport Forum (ITF) of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) jointly launched the ‘Decarbonizing Transport in Emerging Economies’ (DTEE) project in India on June 24, 2020, via a webinar. It was inaugurated by ITF Secretary General Young Tae Kim and NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant in the presence of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Secretary D S Mishra and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Priyank Bharti.
The ambitious five-year project will help India develop a pathway towards a low-carbon transport system through the development of modelling tools. During his opening address, Young Tae Kim, Secretary General of ITF, thanked NITI Aayog and its CEO Amitabh Kant for the support and collaboration on this project. “We are very pleased to launch this project with India, and excited that it is being so well received by our partner, NITI Aayog. This is a very important and promising undertaking that will provide practical support for the Indian government in making the right choices on the way to a low-CO2 transport system. Our collaboration on the “Decarbonizing Transport in India” project is also an opportunity to further strengthen the relationship between India and the ITF.’
In his keynote address, CEO, NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, said, “Decarbonization of the transport sector would create a cleaner, healthier and more affordable future for everyone. The DTEE project would help India translate its climate ambitions into actions. The modelling tool and assessment framework would provide a targeted analytical assistance to identify these climate actions and help us draw policies rooted in data analysis and advanced modelling. Given our diverse demographics across socio-economic factors such as population, age, income, etc., it would be important to first estimate the demand for transportation in India and then do a detailed modelling to compute the CO2emissions.”
Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, D S Mishra, said, ‘Our country is urbanising very fast, which will throw up huge challenges in terms of provision of various kinds of infrastructure, especially mobility.Our strategies need to be in tune with our requirements when our population doubles. I would like to congratulate NITI Aayog and ITF for coming up with this project, which is one of the commitments of the Paris Agreement.”
The transport sector of India is the third most greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting sector, where the major contribution comes from the road transport sector. Out of the total carbon dioxide emissions in India, 13% come from the transport sector. These emissions have more than tripled since 1990. The increasing motorisation and demand for mobility in India have contributed to air pollution, congestion, as well as the increase of greenhouse gas emissions, in the urban area, according to a PIB release.
The Decarbonizing Transport in India project will design a tailor-made transport emissions assessment framework for India. It will provide the government with a detailed understanding of current and future transport activity and the related CO2 emissions as a basis for their decision-making.