PROJECT BACKGROUND NOTE

About OPTIMISM (Opportunities for Climate Mitigation and Sustainable Development)

The OPTIMISM is an international multi-stakeholder partnership and research network that aims to address the
challenge of how we can make sure that rapid and extensive action to mitigate climate change can be leveraged
to deliver both United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Agenda 2030) and a well below 1.5o C
world. The project takes a whole system perspective. It uses the sustainable development goal framework to
analyze (i) how interactions between human development and the environment change with rapid and extensive
climate mitigation, and (ii) how policy and practice interventions informed by a better understanding of enabling
interactions can come together to create transformational change. Under this project, at Ahmedabad University,
our research is on meeting SDGs through low carbon transport. The project is grounded in two Indian cities, an
industrial metropolis Surat and a tourist city Udaipur.

Project Partners
 UK - Imperial College of London (Mitigating land use impacts with dietary change strategies)
 SWEDEN – University of Lund (Tackling hard to decarbonize industrial sectors)
 JAPAN – University of Waseda (100% renewable energy networks: the role of demand side responses)
 INDIA – Ahmedabad University (Low Carbon Transport Transition)

Project Methodology Outline

Framing
Systematic literature review
Methodologies of SDG / SDG-transport interactions
City selection
City plans

Base year assessment Surat

- Literature review Udaipur
Population: 4.5 mn Population 0.5 mn
- City and transportation plans X mn trips
- Transport and fuel data X mn trips
X ton Co2 per cap
- GHG inventory X ton Co2 per cap Expert
- Transport SDG interactions inputs on
methodology
(workshop +
online survey)
Scenarios 2030 Mitigation
- NDCs Reference SDG focused
- City plans
focused scenario
scenario
- Transport policies scenario
ON GROUND
ASSESSMENT
2 Reinforcing
IN CITIES
2 Reinforcing
 GHG inventory
2 Reinforcing
1 Enabling 1 Enabling
1 Enabling
0 Consistent 0 Consistent
0 Consistent
 Nilsson’s scale -1 constraining
-2 counteracting
-1 constraining
-2 counteracting
-1 constraining
-2 counteracting

Final Project
Workshop in
City-wise policy recommendations cities
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