Since we began our India operations in 2008, we've worked closely with Indian businesses and governments, to encourage leadership on climate change and to help unlock a clean industrial revolution.
Through networking with the business community, policy makers, media and civil society, we are showing how low carbon economic policies can support India’s continued economic growth and development, providing a prosperous future for all.
Below you can see our program work, the partnerships we've forged and publications that have been released, that are all helping to drive a Clean Revolution in India.
Read more about The Climate Group, India.
Programs and Partnerships
On top of global work our India team is focused on the following programs, that will help unlock a Clean Revolution:
LED Street Lighting Pilots
India has an opportunity to ‘leapfrog’ carbon intensive technologies for better, cleaner technologies as it develops. In order to mainstream LEDs for energy saving and emission reduction, The Climate Group has been developing LED Street Lighting projects in collaboration with other partner agencies.
The Climate Group facilitated groundbreaking LED Street Lighting pilot project in some of the arterial roads in Kolkata. The pilot, which was implemented by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Bureau of Energy Efficiency, tested the performance of 273 LED lighting installations. The total investment of US$ 293 thousand was equally shared by KMC and BEE.
The benefits of the installations were extremely well received by consumers in Kolkata. Results from a survey showed that more than 90% of Kolkata’s road and park users find LEDs to be a better lighting option than conventional lights. Among shop owners, more than 80% of the respondents prefer LEDs, and more than 75% of the pedestrians that frequently visit roads with LEDs installed ‘strongly recommend’ them.
Gathering inspiration from the LED pilot in Kolkata, the Haldia Development Authority (HDA) also installed 290 LED street lights on HPL link road in this industrial town in West Bengal. Total investment budgeted was to the tune of US$322 thousand for the project and was fully borne by HDA. Following the success of the pilot, HDA now plans to install more of the energy efficient lights across the port city.
We are also working with the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) in developing a pilot project of replacing 314 HPSV street lights with LEDs. Other partners in the project are BEE and the Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (MEDA). The total investment budgeted is US$ 250 thousand which is equally shared by TMC and BEE.
While results from pilots have established the viability of LEDs to revolutionize city lighting in India, taking it a step further, The Climate Group India is also working towards creating a favorable policy environment for the adoption of low carbon energy efficient LED technology in street lighting in Indian states. Recognizing the pioneering work being done by The Climate Group, Frost & Sullivan awarded our India office with the India LED Lighting Market Excellence Awards for Customer Value Enhancement through Business Model on November 16, 2011, in New Delhi. The jury congratulated us for leading the way in making efforts to redefine and make Indian street lighting system planet friendly.
There are 3,723 urban local bodies (ULBs) in India. Most ULBs have either inadequate or poor street lighting and spend considerable sums of money on their operation and maintenance, besides increasing their coverage in the area of jurisdiction. The potential savings in energy across the country by replacing HPSV street lights with LEDs in enormous.
Read our LED program document for more details of our wider LED work.
Facilitating Government and Business Engagement
- UK-India Business Leaders
The high level UK-India Business Leaders Climate Group which was launched in February 2010, is an initiative that has mapped the practical ways that India and the UK can work together to boost productivity, jobs and innovation, while cutting carbon emissions.
Earlier The Climate Group acted as secretariat to this group, which also published a report providing recommendations to UK and Indian governments on how to accelerate collaborative, climate-friendly economic growth.
- Climate Change and Finance in India
In January 2009, we convened a roundtable discussion for CEOs of Indian financial institutions that concluded there was imminent need for engagement with the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and a larger cross section of banks to raise awareness on climate change.
Published in May 2010, the report Climate Change and Finance in India outlines actions for India's finance industry to accelerate a low carbon economy.