Mounting urban travel has resulted in increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Unless deliberate steps are taken to develop and implement environmentally friendly urban transport systems, India’s urban areas may well become the single largest source of GHG emissions.Since one of the important goals of the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP 2006) is to reduce GHG emissions, GoI through the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) intends to initiate programs, which promote shift to more environment friendly modes of urban transport.
To achieve this, the GOI has applied to the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) to implement GEF’s Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP) in India. SUTP in India is to be implemented through two initiatives namely:
- Institutional strengthening and capacity building at the national level; and
- Implementation of Demonstration projects. This initiative is envisaged to identify, prepare and implement a package of green transport demonstration projects in various cities in India.