Will switch to eco lights,solar heaters,Delhi to Copenhagen

Delhi has two. To a packed audience in the Mayors’ conference,the Capital pledged to switch to energy-efficient lighting,and increase the number of its solar water heaters from 5,000 to 5,00,000 in the next 10 years.

Speaking to Newsline from Copenhagen,Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta said: “We can perhaps increase solar heaters to 5,00,000 in the next three years. We have also said we will switch to clean lights,moving away from the yellow bulbs which are not energy efficient. We are also restoring 600 water bodies.”

Newsline had reported that the Delhi government is reconsidering a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) on compact fluorescent lamps (CFL),which are energy efficient but have a disposal problem.

It can be mentioned that any project certified by the United Nations as a green project is a CDM. Once validated by the UN,these CDMs are eligible to earn carbon credits.

The government does not have any CDM in place,though it has drawn up a full climate change action plan.

Meanwhile,the big development that has come out of the Copenhagen summit for cities is the genesis of two funds: a carbon fund and a climate fund. The carbon fund will be a fund of carbon credits gained through CDMs,something Mehta says Delhi has been having trouble with. “The CDM is a market-driven mechanism and government proposals for such market-driven mechanisms have trouble in getting through,” he said. The big hope now is a climate fund,which is likely to be created by international donors and the World Bank. Money from this fund will be used by cities to tackle climate change.

“We have initiated talks with the World Bank on getting money under the climate fund. The World Bank has a climate finance initiative. We are working on it. The Mayors here have re-emphasised that we can do what we have said we will do,” Mehta said.

A statement issued on behalf of mayors and local administrators said,“It is our demand that the world leaders,heads of states and the United Nations commit to a strong outcome here in Copenhagen”.