Green heating technologies could open a $1.6 trillion investment opportunity in India | Rare Techy

According to a new report by the World Bank, as the temperature in India increases due to climate change, cooling areas using different and new technologies can be opened up. with an investment potential of $1.6 trillion by 2040. This also has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. and create approximately 3.7 million jobs.

India is getting warmer every year. By 2030, more than 160-200 million people across the country will be affected by deadly heat waves each year. About 34 million people in India will lose their jobs due to reduced productivity due to sweatshops. Current food loss due to heat during transport is approximately $13 billion per year. By 2037, the need for cooling will be eight times higher than current levels. This means that the demand for new air-conditioning will increase every 15 seconds, leading to a 435 percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions over the next two years.

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

“India’s heating strategy can save lives and livelihoods, reduce carbon emissions, and position India as a hub for green heating,” said Auguste Tano Kouamé, Country Director of the World Bank in India. “The report presents a sustainable cooling roadmap that aims to reduce 300 million tons of carbon dioxide per year by 2040.”

Recognizing this challenge, India is offering new strategies to help people adapt to rising temperatures. In 2019, it launched the India Climate Action Plan (ICAP) to provide sustainable heating systems across various sectors, including indoor heating in buildings and cold chain and refrigeration in the agricultural and pharmaceutical sector, and air conditioning in transportation. 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 suggests 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 recommends specific investments in district 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 transport due to higher temperatures, the report recommends improving the areas of cold chain distribution networks. Investing in pre-refrigerated and refrigerated vehicles can reduce food waste by 76 percent and reduce carbon emissions by 16 percent.

India wants to phase out the production and use of ozone-depleting hydrochlorofluorocarbons, used as air conditioners and refrigerators, by 2047. The report recommends improve the performance, maintenance and elimination of equipment that uses hydrochlorofluorocarbons, along with moving to other options and the 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 lot of private investment in this sector. We recommend that these movements be accelerated by creating a major mission of the government to address the challenges and opportunities from rising temperatures in India,” the authors said. of the report, Abhas K. Jha, Project Director, Climate and Disaster Risk Management, South Asia and Mehul Jain, Climate Change Specialist, World Bank.