Green corridor could create $1.6 trillion investment opportunity in India: World Bank | Rare Techy

“This also has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create approximately 3.7 million jobs,” he added.

According to the report, “Greenhouse Investments in India’s Cooling Sector” it is found that the move towards more energy efficiency will lead to a significant decrease in CO2 levels expected in the next few years. next two.

“India’s heating strategy can save lives and livelihoods, reduce carbon emissions and position India as a global hub for green heating,” said Auguste Tano Kouamé, Country Director of the World Bank in India. It can reduce 300 million tons of carbon dioxide per year by 2040.”

The report added, “India is getting hotter every year. By 2030, more than 160-200 million people across the country will experience deadly heat waves every year. About 34 million people in India will lose their jobs due to reduced productivity due to the heat.

In terms of food safety, the World Bank estimated that food loss due to heat during transport costs approximately $13 billion annually.

“By 2037, the need for cooling will be eight times greater than current levels. That means there will be a demand for fresh air every 15 seconds, and there will be a 435 percent increase in supplies.” greenhouse gas over the next two years,” he said.

Recognizing this challenge, India has introduced new strategies to help people adapt to rising temperatures, the World Bank said. In 2019, it launched the India Climate Action Plan (ICAP) to provide cooling measures in various sectors, including indoor heating in buildings and cold chain and refrigeration in the agricultural and pharmaceutical sector and air conditioning in motor vehicles. It aims to reduce the need for refrigeration by 25 per cent by 2037-38.

The new report of the World Bank proposes a road map to support the new investments of the ICAP in three main sectors: construction, cold chains, and refrigerators.

Adopting climate-responsive cooling measures as a standard in private and government-funded infrastructure can ensure that those at the bottom of the economic ladder are not affected by rising temperatures . The report suggested that India’s affordable housing program for the poor, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), could adopt these changes at scale. The government aims to build more than 11 million urban dwellings and more than 29 million rural dwellings.

The report also recommended special investments in regional cooling technologies. These produce chilled water in the plant which is distributed to the various buildings through underground cooling pipes. This lowers the cost of heating to individual homes and can reduce energy bills by 20-30 percent compared to the most efficient conventional heating solution.

To reduce the increase in food and medicine wastage during transportation due to higher temperatures, the report suggested addressing gaps in cold chain distribution networks. Investing in pre-chilled and refrigerated transport can reduce food waste by 76 percent and reduce carbon emissions by 16 percent, it said.

India wants to phase out the production and use of ozone-depleting hydrochlorofluorocarbons, which are used as air conditioners and refrigerators by 2047. The Bank’s report of the World recommends to improve the operation, maintenance and elimination of equipment that uses hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), along with movement. to other options with a lower global warming footprint. This could create 2 million jobs for trained technicians in the next two years and reduce the demand for refrigerators by 31 percent.

“The right combination of policy actions and public investments can help a large-scale investment in this sector. We recommend that these movements be accelerated by creating a major government program to addressing the challenges and opportunities from rising temperatures in India,” said the report’s author – Abhas K Jha, Project Director, Climate and Risk Management for South Asia, World Bank . , said.

In India, 45 percent of the country’s total electricity demand by 2050 will come from space cooling alone. Space heating interventions across India should focus on “heat efficiency for all” and manage heating access for 1.4 billion people while minimizing the impact on the overburdened power system. This would result in a significant increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, if some form of low energy was available to meet domestic thermal heating needs.

The report states that the market potential and investment opportunity in space heating will be $ 1.5 trillion by 2040. In this, the green building market in India has an investment potential of $ 1.25 trillion for residential buildings and $228 billion for commercial buildings. It is important that the government creates a good investment framework that can attract investment from the private sector.