Mayors of Bengaluru, London join hands to tackle air pollution

Bengaluru Mayor R Sampath Raj and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan on Tuesday announced that they will lead a global partnership of 20 major cities to address rising pollution levels in urban areas.

A delegation of BBMP officials led by Raj met Khan here and discussed issues related to air quality in Bengaluru and the steps taken by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike to tackle the menace.

Since Bengaluru will host the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group summit in 2018 to share best practice in tackling air quality, the heads of both cities also discussed the steps to be taken to reduce pollution.

C40 is a global network of cities committed to addressing climate change to improve the health of cities. C40's new Air Quality Network is co-chaired by the mayor of London and Bengaluru.

The network will allow leaders, from India and abroad, to share ideas, nurture innovation and drive ambition in the global effort to improve the quality of air in cities.

Six Indian cities - Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata and Mumbai - are members of the group, an alliance of more than 90 of the world's greatest cities committed to urgent action on climate change and air pollution.

"The city administration will keep a close eye on the quality of life in the city and air quality is one such indicator that directly impacts the health and well-being of our citizens," said Raj.

"C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group has been working with and helping BBMP over several years now in exposing us to sustainable urban development best practices. We are extremely excited to be co-leading C40's new Air Quality Network along with London. We work together to tackle the urgent need to address air quality in our cities," Raj added.

Khan said: I'm proud today to announce London and Bengaluru will be leading a new air quality partnership. We hope to work with key cities across the world and in India, including with our good friends here in Delhi."