Karachi BRTS to cut 2.76m tonnes of carbon emissions

Project includes construction of a plant to produce biogas from cattle waste

KATOWICE, POLAND: The Karachi Breeze or Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) is one of the major green projects coming up in the megacity, announced the adviser to the Prime Minister on Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam, during a side event at COP24 in Katowice, Poland. The climate-proofed BRT was discussed at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) pavilion on a panel focusing on 'Financing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) in Asia and the Pacific'.

Pakistan has agreed to cut 20% of its carbon emissions below 'business as usual levels' by 2030 in its NDC, submitted under the Paris Agreement, conditional to climate financing of $40 billion. According to Aslam, "In the climate finance debate here at the COP, some countries are saying there is not enough money while others are saying they don't have enough capacity to use the money. Pakistan is in the middle — we have a defined vision and clear targets and with that partners can come on board."



Referring to the $12 million funding from the Green Climate Fund, secured by ADB for the Karachi BRT, Aslam said that the grant would supplement $442 million in loans from ADB, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and Agence Française de Développement to build a 30-kilometer fully segregated state-of-the-art 'third generation' bus rapid transit system including bicycle lanes, a bike-sharing system, last-mile connectivity with e-pedicabs, and improved pedestrian facilities directly benefiting 1.5 million residents of the city. The project includes the construction of a plant to produce biogas from cattle waste for use with zero greenhouse gas emission biomethane-hybrid buses.

"One line is already developed and the second line is in the works. This project actually shows how you can change your infrastructure towards green and low carbon development with the second line. It will save about 2.76 million tonnes of carbon because it will use cattle waste, turn it into methane and run around 200 buses on it," explained Aslam.

Pakistan also has its own project, Aslam pointed out to the panel. It was driven by the need to plant more trees and it was completely self-financed. "It's not in our NDC but we have a billion trees on the ground now. In the next phase, we have announced a 10 Billion Tree Project".

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2018.