Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Wednesday said Hyderabad will become a net-zero city by 2034, declaring climate action a central pillar of the state’s development strategy. Addressing Mumbai Climate Week, the Chief Minister said Hyderabad would become the first city in the country to conduct a comprehensive carbon footprint audit as an initial step towards achieving net-zero status.
He said there would be no pollution-causing industrial units in the Core Urban Region Economy (CURE) area — the 2,153 sq. km Hyderabad region within the Outer Ring Road (ORR) — by 2034. Manufacturing units would instead be shifted to the Peri Urban Region Economy (PURE) area, located between the ORR and the Regional Ring Road (RRR), and this new manufacturing base would be powered mostly by green energy.
The Chief Minister stated that Telangana currently consumes approximately 16,610 MW of power daily, and this demand is expected to increase to around 34,000 MW over the next eight years. The state aims to generate at least 25 per cent of this requirement from renewable energy sources.
As part of emission-reduction measures, the state government has provided tax exemptions for electric vehicles in the CURE area and announced plans to retrofit about two lakh auto-rickshaws to make them pollution-free. The government is also introducing 3,000 electric buses in the CURE area.
Revanth Reddy said data centres operating in Telangana are increasingly seeking exclusively green power and that the government is focusing on expanding renewable energy production to meet this growing demand.
Stating that the country is facing a “climate emergency”, the Chief Minister said governments must give equal priority to ecological conservation along with investments, manufacturing, consumption and development.
He outlined plans to rejuvenate the Musi River, develop water grids, revive the ancient chain of lakes system and protect water bodies across Hyderabad.
He also highlighted the establishment of the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA), which he said has played a key role in protecting lakes and government lands in the city. According to HYDRAA officials, the agency has so far saved more than 30 lakes and government lands worth about `70,000 crore.