In cities, everything is closely connected. As cities and urban populations expand across the globe, the problems in cities also tend to multiply.  Cities generate over 70% of global carbon dioxide emissions, while also providing a space for urgent (and tangible) climate action. The good news is that solutions can also multiply. And fortunately, solutions already exist today that have the potential to meet the demands of urban lifestyles, without exhausting the planet’s ecological capacity.

One Planet City Challenge (OPCC), earlier known as Earth Hour City Challenge, aims to mobilize action and support for cities to move towards a climate-friendly one-planet future, while inspiring cities to recognize their role to bridge the global GHG emissions reduction gap (between what was agreed within the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and what is needed to stay below 1.5°C, in particular before 2020). OPCC invites cities to: report their ambitious commitments and big win climate actions; express co-benefits their climate and sustainability actions provide (in relation to food, water and energy security challenges; and push for more ambitious actions.

Kochi is one amongst the many cities participating in the OPCC program. In this regard, the Kochi Municipal Corporation along with WWF and ICLEI – South Asia organised a stakeholders meeting and public event called ‘One Planet Cities Pedalathon’ to raise awareness and gather support from the citizens for adopting smarter and greener choices of commute.

The project is being coordinated by c-hed.