UK-based Centre for Low Carbon Futures (CLCF), in association with Jadavpur University, will carry out a study to identify ways for efficient use of energy and opportunities to lower carbon emissions in Kolkata. According to Maplecroft’s Fifth annual Climate Change and Environment Risk Atlas, Kolkata ranks seventh in the global list of cities facing the highest climate change risks in the coming decade.

Supported by the British Deputy High Commission, the study will be conducted in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) as part of the “10 Climate Smart Cities” programme carried out by CLCF.

According to Joyashree Roy of Jadavpur University, who is one of the coordinators for the study, the researchers will initially carry out a “baseline study” on the city’s existing energy consumption infrastructure and carbon emission rates. “Later on, we will identify the projects for reducing carbon emissions and green growth and their cost-effective ways for implementation,” Roy told reporters here on Thursday.

She was addressing a press conference to announce the commencement of the study.

Apart from Kolkata, similar studies under “10 Climate Smart Cities” programme are in progress in Aalborg, Denmark (EU), and Bogota, Colombia, Peru, and Lima in Latin America. Studies are in discussion in Rio de Janerio (Brazil) and a number of cities in West Asia and South Asia.

According to a release, Kolkata has been chosen as it is one of the largest cities in the world. The city is also growing at a rapid rate, thereby envisaging higher consumption of energy.

The report of the study would be ready in about eight to nine months, Roy said.

Binay K Dutta, Chairman of West Bengal Pollution Control Board, who was present on the occasion, said “identification of issues and areas” should be done rightly before such a study.

“We have to device the practical strategies to mitigate the (carbon emission related) problems. It is not an easy task but we have to begin somewhere,” Dutta said.

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