Share
 
 
  Contents
 

 
First edition of the World Sustainable Development Summit organized by TERI
 
Session on Electric Mobility
 
Session on Sustainable Development Goals and implications for cities
 
Session on Air Pollution
 
Habitat III-Session on ‘The Role of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for Building Urban Resilience’
 
Workshop on 'Improving Inspection and Maintenance Systems for Vehicles in India’
 
“Namma Auto” - Launch of Project “Switching to a Sustainable Auto-rickshaw System: Triggering Sustainable Lifestyle and Poverty Reduction in Urban India”
 
TERI’s Participation in Transport and Urban Sessions at CoP22 
 
 
TERI
TERI's Publications and Reports
 
SDG 11 and the New Urban Agenda - Challenges and Opportunities for Indian Cities
 
Enabling urban climate resilience the policy way: A Case Analysis on India-Article contribution to ‘Sustainable Urban Development: Challenges and Opportunities, A UNMGCY Youth Science Policy Interface-Special Edition launched at the UN Habitat III Conference.
 
Improving Inspection and Maintenance System for In-use Vehicles in India, TERI Position Paper, October 2016
 
Breathing Cleaner Air: Ten Scalable Solutions for Indian Cities
 
 
 
Transport & Urban Development Knowledge Hub
 
 
India Habitat III National Report
 
The Inclusion Imperative: Towards Disability-inclusive and Accessible Urban Development, Key Recommendations for an Inclusive Urban Agenda
 
 
Habitat III: Urban Governance, capacity and institutional development
 
Sustainable Urbanization Strategy: UNDP
 
Mobilizing Sustainable Transport for Development
 
Investing In Urban Resilience Protecting And Promoting Development In A Changing World 
 
Safety And Intelligent Transport Systems Development In The People’s Republic Of China
 
Myanmar Transport Sector Policy Note: How To Reduce Transport Costs
 
A Call for Action for national governments to implement the necessary national action to deliver the transformation of urban mobility set out in the New Urban Agenda 
 

 

 
  Updates from Transport & Urban Development Circuit
 
 
 
 
Smart Cities Mission India: New Updates
 
India’s Commitment to SDGs
 
Urbanisation has contributed to India’s economic growth: Housing secretary
 
Fuel prices push up truck rentals by 3.5%: transport body
 
Metro speaks: 74% willing to ditch car if public transport system improves
 
Use CNG Or Will Stop State Transport: Green Panel Warns States Near Delhi
 
Green Panel Notice To Centre, Delhi Government On Yamuna 'Water Taxi Project'
 
UDAN will jump-start regional aviation: Govt
 
 
  Check out TERI’s Event Calendar
  Check out TERIs upcoming webinars and subscribe for latest updates
  Subscribe to GRIHA newsletter
 
 
 
The first edition of The Energy and Resources Institute’s (TERI) annual flagship event, the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) 2016 was held from 5–8 October 2016, at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The Summit themed, 'Beyond 2015: People, Planet & Progress', was one of the first international forums that  provided a platform for discussions on the new agenda, post the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the signing of the Paris Agreement. The Summit was instrumental in gathering global leaders and thinkers on a single platform to draw up a roadmap for sustainable development. A brief description and links to sessions that focussed on sustainable urban development and transport systems are provided below.
 

 

Session on Electric Mobility
 
As part of WSDS, TERI organized a thematic track on ‘Realizing the Electric Mobility Vision’ on October 7, 2016. The event, supported by BMW, was chaired by Mr Shri Prakash, Distinguished Fellow, TERI, and focussed on the concerns regarding pace of penetration of electric vehicles in India. In the keynote address, Mr B K Chaturvedi, Former Member, Planning Commission, spoke about the phenomenal increase in the number of vehicles in the last decade and the need to incentivize the adoption of electric vehicles in the country. Mr Abhay Damle, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, stated that despite the challenges, the government is committed to realizing the electric mobility vision. It was also pointed out that at the current rate of growth of electric vehicles, that too mostly in the electric two-wheelers segment, the government will not be able to achieve the targeted penetration levels of 14%–16% of total vehicular fleet under the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020. The solutions to speed up the adoption process suggested by the speakers, at the event, revolved around the six ‘Es’—energy and enthusiasm, education, effectiveness, enablers, environment, and energy security. The other speakers at the event were from BMW Group, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Hero Electric, Volvo Buses India Pvt Ltd, and the French Commission for Atomic Energy and New Energy.
More about the Session
 
 

Session on Sustainable Development Goals and implications for cities

Recognizing the importance of Habitat III and New Urban Agenda for sustainable urban development, two sessions—a plenary and a thematic track—were organized, on SDGs and its implications, challenges, and opportunities for cities.

The Plenary session titled ‘Habitat III Agenda – Sustainable Development Goals and Implications for Cities’, was chaired by Mr S Sundar, Distinguished Fellow, TERI, and focussed on the role of SDGs in realizing sustainable urbanization. The keynote speaker, Mr Durga Shanker Mishra, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, highlighted the role of SDGs in promoting urban growth with a focus on economic development, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. The speakers in the Session included representatives of World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme, Mahindra Lifespaces and the World Urban Campaign.

The Session concluded that the SDGs provide a comprehensive methodology to address sustainable urban development and there is a need to localize the SDGs at the city scale for their successful implementation. A multi-stakeholder approach was recommended as a key requirement in achieving the New Urban Agenda.

The Plenary session was followed by thematic track on ‘Achieving Sustainable Development Goals: Challenges and Opportunities for India’. The track supported by the European Commission focussed on India. The key objective of the Session was to deliberate on the focus areas in the New Urban Agenda and the role of SDGs in realizing greater urban sustainability in the Indian context. The Session highlighted the relevance of multi-stakeholder knowledge-sharing approach to achieve greater sustainable urban development. The Session concluded on the note that in order to achieve SDG11, enforcement of governance framework, social resource mobilization, empowerment of local bodies, and participatory planning approach are the major elements that need to be considered.     

Read the Press Release here
More about the Plenary session
More about the Thematic track
 

Session on Air Pollution

WSDS hosted two sessions on the issue of air pollution in Indian cities. The Sessions focussed on discussing the rapidly increasing air pollution levels in Indian cities.

A roundtable discussion was first held on the subject ‘Air Pollution in India: A Problem with Scalable Solutions’ held on October 6, 2016. The roundtable was chaired by Prof V Ramanathan, Distinguished Professor, University of California and UNEP’s Champions of Earth. The roundtable discussion deliberated on ten scalable solutions to combat the air pollution problem in Indian cities; solutions including the fast track implementation of BS-VI norms to curb tail-pipe emissions; increasing the share of efficient modes of transport viz. railways and waterways; and promoting the use of the public transport system.

The Roundtable session was followed by a plenary session titled ‘Air Pollution is a Solvable Problem’.
The plenary deliberated on the implementable solutions for relevant government authorities to tackle air pollution. A report on air pollution, ‘Breathing Clean Air’ was also released during the Session, which presented sources of air pollution and solutions to address them. 

Habitat III-Session on ‘The Role of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for Building Urban Resilience’

TERI in partnership with the Children and Youth Urban Development Initiative, an initiative of the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth and the Water Youth Network, organized a session focussing on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation for the Children and Youth Assembly on October 15, 2016, held as part of Habitat III in Quito. The objectives of the Session were to highlight synergies amongst urbanization, climate change adaptation, and disaster risk reduction and showcase examples of youth and experts engaged in leveraging science, technology, and innovation to support urban resilience. The keynote speaker, Ms Irantzu Serra-Lasa, Director, Housing and Human Settlements (Asia-Pacific), Habitat for Humanity International, highlighted the role of youth engagement in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in achieving urban resilience. The keynote address was followed by an interactive roundtable discussion centered on three themes—urban governance; urban planning & design; and open data & ICT tools, and their role in building urban resilience. The discussion on the theme of urban governance was steered by Ms. Riya Rahiman, Research Associate, TERI. The roundtable discussions focussed on global case studies and the avenues for youth engagement in enhancing urban resilience in the context of the three themes

The key deliberations in the Session concluded that urban governance and spatial planning is inextricably connected; it is important that youth have a role in decision making and be included in the governance mechanism for building urban resilience; and social media will play an important role for engaging youth towards building urban resilience.

 

Workshop on 'Improving Inspection and Maintenance Systems for Vehicles in India’

In the backdrop of the current challenge of air pollution in Indian cities and the significant contribution of the transport sector in deteriorating air quality levels, TERI organized a workshop on October 25, 2016, at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, to find ways to reduce emissions from in-use vehicles. The workshop was organized as part of TERI’s study titled, ‘Strengthening the Institutional Framework for Inspection and Maintenance (I&M) Programme for In-use Vehicles’, supported by the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation. As part of this workshop, a position paper on ‘Improving Inspection and Maintenance Systems in India’ was released. The key objective of the workshop was to initiate a discussion on the current Inspection & Maintenance (I&M) system for in-use vehicles in India with respect to the limitations of the system and solutions to improve it. During the discussions, it was acknowledged that the current I&M system has possibilities of improvement in the technological and governance aspects. It was recommended that three kinds of testing centres be set up in India, namely traditional testing centres for vehicles without an on-board diagnostic system (OBD); OBD testing centres for vehicles equipped with OBD; and accredited testing centres for vehicles failing the OBD tests. It was further recommended that the instruments used in the existing PUC centres should be modified to measure pollutants with a higher accuracy and visible stickers be issued to vehicles passing the PUC test, so that they can be identified easily. In order to ensure better enforcement it was suggested that the PUC system be linked with vehicle insurance. The key takeaway of the Session was that there is an urgent need to initiate awareness campaigns amongst vehicle owners, as they are undeniably one of the major stakeholders in the performance of vehicles on-road.    

Position Paper: Improving Inspection and Maintenance System for In-use Vehicles in India
 

“Namma Auto” - Launch of Project “Switching to a Sustainable Auto-rickshaw System: Triggering Sustainable Lifestyle and Poverty Reduction in Urban India”

TERI, in partnership with ACRA Foundation Italy, Women Health and Development (WHAD), Bangalore, and ENVIU, Bangalore, has initiated work under the project titled “Namma Auto”. The Project is supported by the European Union and aims at improving the auto rickshaw ecosystem in Indian cities with specific focus on the cities of Bengaluru and Chennai. The Project was launched on the occasion of “Auto rickshaw Day” by the Hon’ble Transport Minister of Karnataka, Shri Ramalinga Reddy in Bengaluru on November 9, 2016.

TERI's Participation in Transport and Urban Sessions at CoP22

 A session on “Sustainable Transport Solutions” was hosted by the Ministry of Railways, Government of India, in the India Pavilion on November 9, 2016. The Session showcased India’s efforts on sustainable transport. As a panelist, Mr Shri Prakash, Distinguished Fellow, TERI, put forward that improving vehicle efficiency, reducing dependence on motorized transport, and stringent emissions norms, are some of the measures currently being undertaken in the road transport sector.A session titled “Sustainable Lifestyles and Climate Justice” was hosted by the
Centre for Environment and Education (CEE), in the India Pavilion on November 8, 2016. Mr Sanjay Seth, Senior Director, Sustainable Habitat Division, TERI, as a panelist highlighted how most of India’s infrastructure is yet to be built and how issues of lifestyle can be integrated in new development. Apart from this, he was also panelist for sessions “Health: The New Paradigm for Local Climate Action” hosted by the US Center, on November 9, 2016; “Financing the transition to Low Carbon Buildings” hosted by UNEP on November 10, 2016; and “Towards Implementation: EU and India Climate Activities one year after Paris” in the EU pavilion on November 10, 2016.

 
 
 
Content managed by the Centre for Research on Sustainable Urban Development & Transport systems (CRSUD&TS), Sustainable Habitat Division, TERI
 
We highly value your feedback! Send us your comments and suggestions at: tudanewsletter@gmail.com
 
If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, click on the Unsubscribe link below