The GHMC has requested different departments to provide details of the steps being taken towards renewable energy and energy conservation to assess carbon footprints.
The information on greenhouse gases should be submitted by Nov. 12 so that the city can qualify for the Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC).
Commissioner M.T. Krishna Babu, on Wednesday, held a meeting with senior officials of the HMWS&SB, Tourism, HPCL, APSRTC, APCPDCL, Transport and the Civil Supplies departments and declared that the city was ready for the challenge.
Reduce carbon emissions
EHCC was launched by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), India and ICLEI, South Asia, for preparing an inventory to reduce carbon emissions. Delhi, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Cochin, Jaipur and Bhubaneswar have been considered for creating such benchmarks, he said.
Worldwide, Italy, United States, Canada, Norway and Sweden have been chosen.
The Commissioner said that the EHCC offers a platform to reward the participating cities in taking steps to reduce their carbon footprints and prepare for climate-related severe weather pertaining to air quality, water supply and urban flooding.
He also pointed out that A.P. had taken several steps such as installation of solar water heating and lighting in the complexes where there are 100 or above units and in all nursing homes, hotels and hospitals.
It is also mandatory as per the town planning rules to encourage people to adopt renewable energy, a press release said.