Delhi's New Climate Action Draft Targets Seven Key Sectors

The Delhi government has introduced a draft of its new State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC), outlining a comprehensive strategy to combat the climate crisis in the nation’s capital. Environment Minister Gopal Rai announced the proposals on Wednesday, highlighting the city’s urgent need to address extreme weather events that are increasingly becoming the norm. 

The draft plan, which has been in development for over two years, focuses on seven critical sectors: energy, urban planning, water management, forest and green cover, transport, agriculture, and health. The proposals include installing solar panels on rooftops to generate 750 MW of solar power, converting all streetlights to LED by 2030, and deploying low-cost sensors for flood warnings. These measures were formulated after a high-level committee meeting involving 40 government departments, agencies, and expert institutions, according to Rai. 

Delhi’s existing SAPCC was implemented in 2019, using data collected up until 2011. However, the new plan is being developed with updated findings and is set to be submitted to the Central government within the next fortnight, following the incorporation of additional expert recommendations. The city plans to begin implementing the plan as soon as it receives Central approval. 

An assessment included in the draft identified the northeast, east, and south Delhi districts as the most vulnerable to the climate crisis. The city has already faced severe weather conditions this year, with the first five months being the driest since 2018, followed by intense heatwaves in May and June. Conversely, the monsoon season brought record rainfall, with Delhi receiving 228.1mm on 28 June—the highest single-day total since 1936. 

The draft plan, prepared in collaboration with the German Technical Cooperation Group (GIZ) and institutes such as IIT Delhi and GGSIPU, also calls for significant infrastructural changes. These include moving power infrastructure underground, achieving 100 percent waste segregation by the year’s end, increasing waste-to-energy capacity, constructing climate-resilient buildings, and expanding Delhi’s Ridge and forest areas through eco-restoration efforts. Additionally, the plan emphasises the need to discourage the use of private vehicles by improving the city’s public transport systems. 

A senior official from the environment department, speaking anonymously, noted that the 2019 SAPCC served as a foundation for the new plan, which builds on the earlier framework with insights gained over the past decade. The official stressed that while the draft plan covers a broad spectrum of issues on paper, its success will depend heavily on the effective mobilisation of resources and funds. 

The Delhi government’s initiative reflects the growing recognition of climate change as a critical issue requiring immediate and sustained action, with the draft plan positioning the city to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of future climate events.