Kolkata first in south Asia to be part of C40 cities

KOLKATA, December 12: In a first for a south Asian city, Kolkata today became part of a worldwide network of C40 cities which collectively work on addressing urban sustainability challenges. West Bengal government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group which has over 80 cities as members including New York, London, Shanghai and Singapore. "It is a partnership to share experience and expertise on urban development issues," state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said, adding that the city incorporates environment sustainability features into urban planning. Sanjay Sridhar of the C40 group said, "Kolkata is the fist city in south Asia to have signed the MoU." He said they would work with Kolkata on issues related to transport, solid waste management, air pollution, water, energy and integrated planning. "We will find cities from our network from whose models and expertise Kolkata can learn from. The idea is to work collectively on sustainability of cities," Sridhar said. A work plan regarding this would be ready in the next month. Set up in 2006, C40 is a network of the world's mega-cities committed to addressing climate change. It supports cities to collaborate effectively, share knowledge and drive meaningful, measurable and sustainable action on climate change.