Every year, the world comes together to discuss emerging agendas and review progress towards Net Zero. States make promises at these conferences, put their national plans, and set ambitious targets. However, hardly few nations are on track of achieving them. One key reason highlighted is the gap between national commitments and implementation on the ground. States make promises at the international level but fails in translating them at local level.
In this respect, the Bareilly Cantonment Board achieving the feat of becoming India’s first carbon-negative cantonment therefore hold significance. Although, the scale of the achievement is geographically limited, but it raises an important question: how can local administration turn climate commitments into action?
What does carbon negative mean?
Carbon-negative simply means that more carbon is removed from the atmosphere than is emitted within a defined accounting boundary. The assessment by ICWMR, TERI School of Advanced Studies, titled “Carbon Sequestration Study of Plantation in Bareilly Cantonment Area”[1], examined the carbon-sequestration potential of the Board’s plantation areas. It reported annual sequestration of 61,128 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent against 742 tonnes of annual electricity-related emissions, resulting in a reported net annual carbon balance of −60,386 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.
NITI Aayog[2] gives an approximate figure of 3 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per person annually for India in 2024. On that basis, the reported balance of 60,386 tonnes equals the annual emissions of around 20,100 people. This is an illustrative comparison but it showcase worth lesson that coordinated small action at local level can help translate big national targets into measurable outcomes.
What did Bareilly Cantonment Board do differently?
The idea is straightforward: Effective implementation backed by planning, evidence and monitoring. Three areas illustrate the approach:
1. Removing carbon through scientific plantation management
The availability of land does not guarantee outcomes; how it is used matters. CEO of Bareilly Cantonment Board Dr. Tanu Jain described a phased plantation approach: fruit-bearing plants to support local fauna, selected Oxygen-rich tree species, and gradual removal of invasive species such eucalyptus. The emphasis was not simply on planting more trees, but on managing green cover with wider environmental needs in mind.
2. Reducing emissions through energy efficiency and integrated infrastructure
The Board began with an energy audit to identify gaps. This is an important governance lesson: data can help an administration decide where action is most needed. Action without data drives efforts directionless. The findings helped in taking informed but targeted interventions, including improving or replacing inefficient fans and air-conditioning systems and installing LED street lighting to reduce electricity consumption.
It also helped in taking big ticket infrastructural interventions including rooftop solar, a waste-to-energy plant processing 35–40 tonnes of waste daily, a sewage treatment plant with a reported capacity of 6 MLD, and efforts to restore large ponds and drains. Plantation and river-rejuvenating work also took place along the Nakatiya Nadi, a 52-km river with a stretch passing through the cantonment.
Together, these initiatives connect energy efficiency, renewable energy, waste management and water conservation instead of treating them as isolated activities having profound effect on overall ecosystem.
3. Monitoring and evaluation
Monitoring helps establish whether interventions deliver results. Evaluating enriches the experience for future projects. Thus, the effective governance also include the post-implementation monitoring because- plantation drives need care for survival, infrastructure needs maintenance, and installing efficient equipment does not by itself prove energy savings. Indicators such as tree survival rate, energy use, waste processing and water quality, thus, therefore be tracked and noted at regular basis so that the intervention survives long term.
The TERI assessment quantifies plantation carbon sequestration, while the energy audit shows how identifying inefficiencies can guide action. Dr. Tanu Jain also described a six-to-seven-month public-awareness effort to explain residents’ responsibilities and the Board’s planned work. An aware citizen is thus also become an independent social auditor.
Learnings from the Bareilly Cantonment
Governance
Environmental actions cannot be viewed in silos, as climate change respects no jurisdictional boundaries. Coordinated action is therefore the need of the hour. For instance, rejuvenating only the stretch of the Nakatiya River flowing through Bareilly Cantonment would have limited impact if the remaining stretch continued to deteriorate. Coordination among local authorities to restore the river, alongside continued monitoring, is essential for lasting results. Such coordination, however, requires institutional willingness. During the webinar, Dr. Tanu Jain highlighted that willingness to work towards environmental sustainability lead them to collectively achieve the Carbon-Negative feat way before the set timeline of 2030.
Public participation
Climate action often focuses on infrastructure and administrative interventions, while public consultation and participation receive comparatively less attention. According to Dr. Tanu Jain, the Cantonment Board undertook a dedicated awareness campaign for around five to six months, explaining residents’ responsibilities as well as the actions the administration would take on the ground. This approach designates residents more than mere recipients but as active participants in the implementation. For instance, such awareness campaign brought energy efficiency as the conversation talk in the household tables, motivated individual houses to adopt rooftop solar, and seeking public cooperation in participating in administration drives including through activities such as shramdan. Awareness, therefore, needs to go beyond communicating government initiatives and encourage people to participate in sustaining their outcomes.
The lesson is not simply to replicate the cantonment’s administrative structure, but to adopt the processes that support implementation: identifying gaps on scientific basis, setting priorities, involving residents, coordinating agencies and tracking outcomes. Municipal bodies can adapt these principles to their own powers and resources.
Way Forward
Bareilly offers a useful case for examining local contributions to national climate goals. Replication requires more than plantation drives or green infrastructure. Local bodies need finance, technical capacity, inter-agency coordination, public participation and transparent reporting based on credible baselines.
With effective planning, due diligence and Jan Bhagidari (public participation), public land, urban green spaces and local infrastructure, climate actions taken at local level can bring large impacts in mitigation as well as adaptation. Bareilly’s experience suggests a practical sequence: diagnose the problem, prioritise interventions, coordinate stakeholders, involve residents and measure progress. It is a starting point for learning, not a reason to stop asking how results are measured.
Sources and verification notes
- Certificate of Excellence issued to Bareilly Cantonment Board by ICWMR, TERI School of Advanced Studies, dated 23 June 2026; Report No. 26CWMR01/01.
- Green India, video report and interview with Tanu Jain, CEO, Bareilly Cantonment Board: https://youtu.be/bVm1a_f5n14 (relevant interview segments approximately 4:39–6:37).
- NITI Aayog, “Scenarios Towards Viksit Bharat and Net Zero”: https://www.niti.gov.in/node/2161. Check the exact table, year and unit before final submission.
- Directorate General Defence Estates, information on cantonments: https://dgde.gov.in/en/division/cantonments/.
- 6th Yuva for Sustainability Webinar
Note:
[1] Report No. 26CWMR01/01;
[2] Report titled “Scenarios Towards Viksit Bharat and Net Zero”
