Kolkata becomes first Indian city to join global treaty to phase out fossil fuel – Times Now

Kolkata became the first Indian city to support a global initiative to phase out oil, gas and coal production. With this, the city joined the global league of 60 cities including Paris, London, Sydney and Los Angeles. ​​

Representative image.

Photo : PTI

“Calling for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty is another feather in the cap for Kolkata. It is extremely important to make sure that the city population remains well-prepared to minimise the catastrophic future effects of climate change,” Mayor Firhad Hakim said in a statement.

The corporation said they have been pushing several actions to reduce the city’s carbon footprint. Some of the proposals include action plans for running the city’s commercial vehicles on non-fossil energy sources from 2030, particularly promoting electric vehicles in a major way. According to the statement by the CANSA, rapid urbanisation and near-complete dependence on fossil fuels by the transport sector makes the city’s air quality extremely poor.

The Director of CANSA, Sanjay Vashist, congratulated the civic authorities in Kolkata for becoming the first and largest city in the South Asian region to pledge its support to the global call.

“As an old saying goes: ‘What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow.’ In this vein, I hope the rest of the metropolitan cities in the South Asian region, already reeling under the effects of rapid urbanisation and climate change, will support the call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Local efforts, especially at the city level, are extremely important in order to help minimise the catastrophic effects of climate change and adapt to the impacts better,” Sanjay Vashist said.

The endorsement inducts Kolkata into the group of 64 other cities across the world including Paris, London, Sydney and Los Angeles.