NEW DELHI: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched a programme called UrbanShift which is planning to extend support to 234 cities to develop a series of strategies such as low-carbon transport system, green infrastructure and other schemes to lower or recycle waste. Project leaders are looking forward to implement this programme in cities across the globe.
The initiative will be executed jointly by Global Environment Facility (GEF), World Resources Institute (WRI), World Bank, Asian Development Bank, C40 Cities and others. It will be introduced in nations like Brazil, Costa Rica, China, Indonesia, Argentina, India, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Morocco.
During the launch event of the UrbanShift initiative, Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UNEP, said that the noise around what these cities have achieved will inspire other cities to adopt similar ways of development to attain sustainable future. Among its objectives, UrbanShift will look to avoid more than 130 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and restore one million hectares of land. This will have an impact on the life of more than 58 million people residing in the target cities.