Ahmedabad vehicles’ daily emission: 1 ton of carbon dioxide per minute!

AHMEDABAD: Our dependence on vehicles to travel even short distances leads to injecting of approximately 1,500 tons of carbon dioxide daily — or 1 ton every minute — into our respirable air! Our collective carbon footprint is the highest among tier-2 Indian cities and we share this honour with Pune.

A recently released study titled ‘Urban Commute’ by Delhi’s Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), ranks Ahmedabad and Pune as the sixth highest carbon dioxide emitters among 14 mega and metropolitan Indian cities. Ahmedabad is ahead of Kolkata, Jaipur, Kochi, Lucknow and Chandigarh.

Nearly 65% of Amdavadis depend on private vehicles for their daily commute — which is the third highest among metro cities. In Chandigarh, the dependence is 80%; while Lucknow’s dependence is 70%.

Not a pleasant SAFAR in city

The CSE study points out that vehicular traffic alone pumps nearly 400kg of particulate matter (PM) daily into the city’s breathable air. This amount is at par with that of Mumbai and higher than that of eight other cities, the CSE report says. Rutul Joshi, associate professor of Cept University, said that the study highlights a very important aspect for cities like Ahmedabad. “They are at an inflection point where their per trip emissions are in middle of the spectrum — they can go up or down,” he said.