MMRCL Claim:

Metro 3 project would reduce carbon dioxide emissions on a larger scale than the reduction in emissions due to the cutting of trees for the project. The 2,800 trees that are affected by Metro 3 project reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 61 metric tonnes annually, while Metro 3 would reduce emissions by 9907 metric tonnes every year.

Truth:
1. MMRCL calculated only how much emissions Metro 3 can prevent but did not give the figures of emissions that the operation of Metro 3 will release every day. A study by the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar metro railway said the service prevents daily emissions of 22.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2). But the operation releases 75.6 tonnes of CO2 every day because the service consumes electricity for traction, lighting, air-conditioning, escalators and other facilities. Hence, this metro line currently produces (and not reduce) a net increase of 52.9 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every day.
Metro authorities claim that that increase in CO2 emissions due to impacted trees at the car shed shall be compensated in 4 days once the metro starts. If this claim is to be believed then Metro3 is carbon negative whereas Metro is highly energy intensive. It is not even carbon neutral but carbon positive. This is the most ostentatious lie coming from metro authorities fooling the public.

2. Comparing the capacity for carbon sequestration of metro 3 with that of the trees is a blasphemy. If MMRCL can measure carbon sequestration of a tree why didn't it measure the oxygen producing capacity of a tree? How will Metro 3 compensate the amount of oxygen that will be lost from destroying 2702 trees? Besides, the measurable CO2 sequestration, there are a lot of other benefits that trees provide that metro cannot provide:
- Can metro 3 produce oxygen while performing CO2 sequestration like trees?
- Can metro 3 absorb odours and pollutant gases (nitrogen oxides, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and ozone) and filter particulates out of the air by trapping them on their leaves and bark?
- Can Metro 3 cool the city, provide shading to our homes and streets, break up urban heat and release water like trees?
- Can metro 3 reduce runoff like trees by breaking rainfall, allowing the water to flow down the trunk and into the earth below the tree which prevents stormwater from carrying pollutants to the ocean?
- Can metro 3 act like a sponge that filters the rainwater naturally and uses it to recharge groundwater supplies like trees?
- Can metro 3 slow runoff and hold soil in place while preventing soil erosion like trees?
- Can metro 3 nurture and nourish the rich biodiversity like trees?

Though Metro 3 may have intensive carbon footprints, it is in the interest of Mumbai's environment to have efficient public transport systems like Metro which help in reducing the carbon footprints released by vehicular traffic as long as it does not destroy the carbon negative forests which help in absorbing the pollution and CO2 emissions.

We reiterate that this petition is not against Metro but against a car shed which is to be built in the forest. This update is to thwart the lies and claims that MMRCL is making to convince Mumbaikars that constructing a car shed in Aarey forest is not harming the environment.