The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), to develop an urban cooling programme in the State. The programme is being undertaken under the framework of the ‘Cool Coalition’ and the India-Denmark Green Strategic Partnership.
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The UNEP will work with the State to prepare comprehensive action plans including improved urban design, enhancing green cover in cities, building efficiency measures, extreme heat planning, and district cooling.
The MoU was signed between Atul Bagai, Country Head, UNEP and Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Climate Change and Forest Department, Shiv Das Meena, Additional Chief Secretary, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, and Apoorva, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department.
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The MoU will facilitate capacity-building for a range of stakeholders on sustainable cooling; enhance South-South cooperation through training to other States in India and other countries on lessons from the programme; facilitate comprehensive city and State-level planning for plastics waste management, implement frameworks for extended producers responsibility (EPR) and enforce the bans on single-use plastics.
The MoU will also assist in developing and implementing comprehensive city and State-level air quality management decision support systems and plans through scientific assessments, cost-effectiveness analysis, implementation frameworks, capacity-building and awareness generation.
The agreement was exchanged in the presence of Danish Crown Prince Frederik Andre Henrik Christian, and Crown Princess Mary Elizabeth.
Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Minister of Finance and Human Resource Management, and T. Mano Thangaraj, Minister of Information Technology and Digital Services participated in the event.