Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Government of India has initiated “ClimateSmart Cities Assessment Framework” for the 100 smart cities. This is first of its kind framework, aimed at creating a green mind-set in the cities while they plan and undertake various development projects. The framework has 30 diverse indicators, across 5 sectors, that shall not only monitor and guide the cities but also help them to assess their own preparedness to tackle the issue of climate change (mitigation and adaptation) as well as degrading air quality. The sectors and indicators are listed below:
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Energy and Green Buildings
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Urban Planning, Green Cover & Biodiversity
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Mobility and Air Quality
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Water Resource Management
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Waste Management
This framework serves as a tool for cities to assess their present situation and facilitate cities to adopt, implement and disseminating the best practices and further to set standards in comparison to the international efforts towards the green, sustainable and urban resilient habitat
The Ministry completed the first cycle of assessment in 2019 and announced the individual city readiness report of 96 participating cities during the 3rd Smart City CEO Conference held at Vishakhapatnam on Jan 24-25, 2020. This assessment cycle was implemented with support of GIZ-Climate Smart Cities project. In the first phase more than 27 Government departments/organisations across three tier governance structure- National, State and Local level along with other stakeholder agencies were involved in data collection exercises and providing inputs for more than 120 data sets. The concluded phase of assessment did not intend to rank the cities but to help them understand their status regarding climate mitigation and adaptation.
After successful cycle-I of assessment, Ministry has evolved the ClimateSmart Cities Assessment Framework 2.0 (CSCAF 2.0) with revised set of 28 indicators. Further, ClimateSmart Cities-Self Assessment Tool (CSC-SAT) has been developed to assist cities to assess the results of potential GHG mitigation due to the recommended action envisaged/ implemented under ClimateSmart Cities Assessment. The next cycle of assessment is implemented by recently announced “Climate Centre for Cities” set up under the aegis of NIUA with support of GIZ. The scope of this assessment cycle has been extended beyond 100 smart cities and intend to rank them in order of their performance. GIZ is supporting the initiative as a strategic & knowledge partner.
Moving a step ahead, the Ministry envisaged for a ClimateSmart Cities Alliance to further mainstream climate actions in Urban India. These strategic partnerships will bring together the diverse skills, strengths and resources for implementing projects, sharing knowledge & good practices, and scaling up transformative action to address the increasing climate risks in Indian cities. A mapping of alliance members, their area of expertise and interest for cities to work with has been conducted with support of GIZ. Climate Centre for Cities is mandated to act as alliance secretariat. As of now, 31 organisations are member of the alliance which also include 100 Smart Cities in India.
For further information, please visit the ClimateSmart Cities Assessment Framework micro-site on Smartnet:
