This Kerala Village Is Trying Its Hand at Carbon Neutrality

An initiative has been started to move to a net zero carbon footprint.

Thomas Isaac, Kerala Finance Minister, plants a sapling to inaugurate the initiative. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Dr TM Thomas Isaac)

Cities across the country are struggling to deal with massive amounts of pollution. However, a village in Kerala’s Wayanad district is setting an example by attempting to become the first panchayat in the state to have net zero carbon footprint.

On World Environment Day last Sunday, State Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac launched a project to make Meenangadi the first carbon neutral village.

Once Meenangadi achieves carbon neutrality, it will have a significant impact across various sectors, including agriculture. The agriculture produce from the panchayat, including coffee, can be marketed with the carbon-neutral tag.

Thomas Isaac, Kerala Finance Minister

The seed of the idea came from the Minister.

It was in December last year when Thomas Isaac told us about the project. He had then just returned from the Paris Climate Change Conference. This project mainly aims to find out the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and to neutralise it

Beena Vijayan, President of Meenangadi panchayat.

Kerela pledges to cut down carbon emissions. (Photo: iStockphoto)

The project is being carried out with the help of Thanal, the Zoology department of Kannur University, and the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation. A survey will be first carried out in the region after which a blueprint for action will be prepared.

They will scientifically find out the sources of CO2 emission by conducting surveys in houses, in all other small and big institutions, and vehicular emissions in the region. Our next step will be then to neutralise it using different methods like afforestation and promoting renewable energy.

Beena Vijayan, President of Meenangadi panchayat

GoGreen, an initiative focusing on environmental issues, describes the term as “a practice of balancing CO2 released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, with renewable energy that creates a similar amount of useful energy.” As a result, “carbon emissions are compensated.”