Doubling Down on Efficiency and Ramping up Renewables: How Demand-Side Management Can Power Up India's Energy Goals
India has set an ambitious goal: reaching 500 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2030. Demand-side management and demand flexibility will play a crucial role in achieving this goal, while also contributing to doubling its energy efficiency by 2030.
Recognizing the critical role of demand flexibility, India’s Government and electricity distribution companies (DISCOMs) are taking a proactive approach, actively developing programmes and collaborating to support the country’s renewable energy targets.
This forward-thinking approach builds on existing research that establishes the potential of demand flexibility and creates a clear business model for DISCOMs, paving the way for a more sustainable and secure energy future powered by clean, renewable sources.
Leading the Charge
On 14 May 2024, Sustainable Energy for All and Mission Efficiency hosted over 50 energy experts in New Delhi, to assess progress and review challenges and opportunities for demand management to support India’s renewable energy and energy efficiency targets.
These were the key takeaways from this session:
- India's Government and power utilities have shown promising results with national-scale programmes and pilot projects. Now, the focus is on rapidly scaling up utility-led, regulator-approved programmes.
- Effective implementation requires concerted efforts in regulation, data collection and research, and technology roll-out, driven by policy frameworks.
- There is an opportunity for information sharing and continuous learning to address challenges, supported by India’s wide ecosystem of partners and industry experts.
- Demand flexibility benefits both consumers and utilities, but enhanced awareness is required to increase participation and optimize gains.
- There are successful examples that can be replicated easily in sectors such as water pumping, agriculture, residential energy use, and behavioral change. For example, India's residential sector holds massive demand flexibility potential, sometimes even surpassing commercial and industrial sectors.
- Private players are keen on tapping into India's demand flexibility market, and many already possess technological capabilities, expertise, and a willingness to invest.
- Innovative business models and robust monitoring systems are two of the main keys to unlock full market potential.
For more information, please contact info@missionefficiency.org
Report Launch | A Spoonful of Solar to Help the Medicine Go Down: Exploring Synergies Between Healthcare and Energy
WRI India is launching its report on A Spoonful of Solar to Help the Medicine Go Down: Exploring synergies between health care and energy on 26 October, followed by panel discussions and stakeholder consultation.
A joint global report between World Health Organization and partners estimates that, globally, nearly 1 billion people access health facilities that function without electricity or with unreliable electricity. In India alone, several thousands of rural public health facilities operate without an electricity connection.
COP28 President-Designate, Ministers, SEforALL and UNEP call for action on sustainable cooling at Clean Energy Ministerial
The Government of India, as G20 President, and the Government of the United Arab Emirates, which holds the COP28 Presidency, put cooling firmly on the international energy agenda today at the High-Level Dialogue on Sustainable Cooling, which was part of the Clean Energy Ministerial-Mission Innovation Summit in Goa, India.
At a time when unprecedented heatwaves are gripping many regions of the world, today’s event highlighted how urgent action is needed to deliver sustainable cooling solutions that will protect people without hastening climate change. Several ministers and high-level representatives rallied behind the Global Cooling Pledge, its calls to action on sustainable cooling, and the steps the global community must take to achieve a “Cool COP28”, specifically one that sparks commitments towards improving sustainable cooling access.
The Global Cooling Pledge is an initiative led by the COP28 Presidency and supported by the Cool Coalition and its partners, including SEforALL. As highlighted by Ms. Ligia Noronha, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office of UN Environment Programme (UNEP), “the Pledge offers state and non-state actors a unique chance to enhance commitments to climate mitigation, to adaptation, resilience and investments towards sustainable cooling.”
Previewed earlier this year, it calls for progress on nature-based solutions, super-efficient appliances, food and vaccine cold chains, district cooling, and National Cooling Action Plans, among others.
During the event in Goa, Dr. Sultan al Jaber, COP28 President-Designate and the UAE’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, said, “We have a unique opportunity to deliver a significant collective response to the cooling challenge via this very important initiative – the Global Cooling Pledge. This Pledge aims to improve efficiency and increase access to sustainable cooling. It is gaining momentum, with more than 20 early supporters, including India and Denmark.”
The COP 28 President-Designate was joined by Ministers and international energy sector leaders to call on governments to join the Global Cooling Pledge in the lead up to COP 28.
Speaking on behalf of the Government of Denmark, Dan Jørgensen, Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy, declared, “It is clear that achieving universal access to sustainable cooling requires international corporation, dedicated climate finance, and leadership from key players.” He then urged decision-makers from government, private sector and civil society to raise awareness and advocate for a global approach to sustainable cooling.
Recent record-breaking temperatures, including some exceeding 50 degrees Celsius, accentuate the need for progress on sustainable cooling for all. New data from the Chilling Prospects research series show progress is not moving quickly enough to beat the heat. Around 1.12 billion people are still at high risk due to a lack of access to cooling, a decrease of just over 20 million compared to last year. The most acute and dangerous cooling access gaps are in the poor rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa and in the growing cities in high-temperature regions of the Global South.
In these areas, people face risks to their health, safety and productivity because they can’t access the cooling they need. Bringing them cooling solutions is therefore a critical development and climate issue, because rising demand for cooling needs to be met sustainably. Currently, conventional cooling, such as air conditioning, is already responsible for over seven per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions are on a path to doubling by 2050 without stronger action.
SEforALL is pleased to work with the Governments of India and the UAE, as well as the Cool Coalition to advance action on sustainable cooling in the run-up to COP28 and beyond. Together, we will be working to generate:
- Pro-poor, pro-rural innovation to put sustainable solutions in reach.
- More effective financing for the productive use of energy for cooling, building on the result-based financing that works for electrification.
- Strong policy commitments from national governments on codes, standards and integrated electrification planning that includes cooling.
- Financing for data, technical support, and project implementation that can turn a commitment into results for those at highest risk due to a lack of access to cooling
During the High-Level Dialogue, Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, and Co-Chair of UN-Energy, highlighted how SEforALL is already supporting the Governments of Kenya and Ghana to mobilize investment in sustainable cooling solutions for the most vulnerable. We have also launched our second #ThisisCool youth innovation challenge, with winners to be profiled at COP 28.
In Malawi, SEforALL ensured that the cooling, energy, and associated investments needs to guarantee vaccine cold chains for the COVID-19 response were included in the Government’s Integrated Energy Plan. And in Madagascar, we are going a step further by including vaccine and agricultural cold chains in the support provided to the Government of Madagascar to develop their Integrated Energy Plan.
“Over the next few months, SEforALL is looking forward to working with you all on the success of the Global Cooling Pledge, and subsequently support countries to implement the solutions after the Pledge,” Ogunbiyi expressed at the event in Goa.
The effects of a warming planet, insufficient action on climate change adaptation, and the growing impacts of extreme heat on human lives underline the urgency of the issue. With 2023 representing a year of opportunity for new commitments to sustainable cooling, let us use the moment to prioritize the opportunity of Cooling for All for equality of opportunity, productivity, and health of the most vulnerable.
Chilling Prospects: Nature-based solutions to reduce the urban heat island effect in Mumbai, India
India is home to 309.2 million people at high risk due to a lack of access to cooling. Mumbai, the most heavily populated city in the country, has undergone rapid urbanization, converting natural land cover with soil, water and vegetation into urban paved areas. Consequently, it has developed a pronounced urban heat island effect (UHIE).
Measured land surface temperatures in Mumbai demonstrate that areas with low built-up density experience temperatures around 28°C, whereas high built-up urban areas exhibit significantly higher temperatures of approximately 34°C. In contrast, on the city's outskirts, where vegetation density and water coverage are more abundant, temperatures range from 21°C to 23°C. [1] Discover more urban land use and heat analysis for Mumbai here and in the WRI Working Paper Urban Blue-Green Conundrum: A 10-City Study on the Impacts of Urbanization on Natural Infrastructure in India.
The impact of Mumbai’s UHIE was particularly noticeable in the suburb of Andheri East, specifically at the Marol Co-op Industrial Estate, following the construction of a metro line. Before the metro’s construction in 2005 and 2010, average temperatures recorded were 29.27°C and 33.4°C, respectively. However, after the construction, the average temperature rose to 38.8°C. [2]
In response to this, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Marol Co-op Industrial Estate initiated the development of a 3.2 acre Urban Forest and Nature Conservancy Park in Marol along the Mithi river to increase green cover in this heat-stressed part of Mumbai. On World Environment Day in June 2023, the BMC carried out a tree plantation drive supporting this initiative. [3]
Based on studies of the cooling intensity of trees in an urban environment, the temperature reductions achieved could range from 0.4° C to 3.0° C. [4] More cooling may be achieved with a higher density of the proposed green space. Once complete, the Urban Forest and Nature Conservancy Park is expected to serve up to 172,824 people who can access the green space within a 15-minute walk. [5]
This nature-based initiative was made possible by the Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP). The MCAP includes a priority action track to ‘increase vegetation cover and permeable surface to 30-40 percent of the city surface area by 2030 to tackle flood- and heat-related disaster risk’ with sub-actions that include developing low-cost nature-based solutions to reduce heat stress in low-income neighborhoods and an increased budget allocation for urban green development and maintenance to tackle heat. Furthermore, India is establishing nationwide strong nature-based solution networks for the peer-to-peer exchange of best practices, technical training and knowledge sharing, such as the India Forum for Nature-based Solutions.
Mumbai is demonstrating that evidence-based policymaking, sub-government actions and practice-based change can help reduce the impact of excess heat on its citizens through nature-based solutions.
Notes and references
[1] Grover, Aakriti & Singh, RB. (2016). Monitoring Spatial Patterns of Land Surface Temperature and Urban Heat Island for Sustainable Megacity: A Case Study of Mumbai, India Using Landsat TM Data. Environment and Urbanization Asia. 7. 38-54. 10.1177/0975425315619722.
[2] https://www.knocksense.com/mumbai/bmc-to-develop-urban-forest-in-marol-industrial-area-to-reduce-heat-island-effect-in-the-region
[3] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wri-india_worldenvironmentday-worldenvironmentday-activity-7072092710051938306-L4py/?originalSubdomain=in
[4] Planting Healthy Air: A global analysis of the role of urban trees in addressing particulate matter pollution and extreme heat. The Nature Conservancy (2016)
[5] SEforAll analysis using catchment for locations within a 15-minute walk captured from https://app.traveltime.com. Estimated population taken from https://www.freemaptools.com/find-population.htm using 0.9 km radius catchment.
Chilling Prospects: The impact of Climate Saathis in India’s urban slums
Empowering women for climate resilience
The Chilling Prospects 2023 analysis shows that in India, over 215 million people in urban settings are currently estimated to be at high risk due to a lack of access to cooling services, including over 121 million women living in poor urban areas and urban slums. The Mahila Housing Trust (MHT) is empowering women to build climate resilience in slums by becoming Climate Saathis (friends in Hindi). The model builds upon the notion that if the urban poor are provided with the necessary knowledge, tools and leadership skills, they will be able to devise and implement climate-resilient technologies solutions locally.
Through the Climate Saathis project, women are trained to be energy auditors who encourage households to switch to more energy-efficient lighting, fans and cooling devices and become grassroots-level micro-entrepreneurs, forming a women-led distribution network of efficient and off-grid products. The programme also focuses on educating participants about various aspects of energy, including understanding electricity bills, calculating energy consumption, and identifying sources of energy wastage. Women also encourage households to use building materials and technologies that reduce heat. Passive cooling solutions such as white roofs and improved roofs can reduce home temperatures by up to 6°C.
Cool roofs are a strategic component of India’s response to increased temperatures. Cities like Ahmedabad are including cool roofs in Heat Action Plans and Monsoon Action Plans, providing a model for other communities to follow.
To date, around 28,000 energy audits have been undertaken in slum communities, which have saved families over USD 700,000 per year in electricity costs. This support has included the installation of over 200 modular roofs and 500 roofs with solar-reflective white paint. In addition, this has also led to a reduction of 105 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, CO2e, per year.
The Climate Saathis project is an excellent example of how grassroots-level initiatives can significantly impact climate change mitigation. The project recognizes the important role that women can play in building climate resilience and improving the lives of those living in informal settlements. It also provides a model for other communities to follow.
Chilling Prospects 2022: The role of National Cooling Action Plans in delivering the global environment agenda
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Reflections on five years of the Kigali Amendment by the Cool Coalition |
Increasing temperatures, growing economies, and more frequent heat waves and extreme weather events across the globe are resulting in a growing demand for cooling services.
In recent years, the issue of promoting sustainable and affordable access to cooling has emerged as an area of focus for governments, the health and food industry, real estate and technology providers, and financial institutions. Cooling services are essential to provide human comfort and productivity and ensure the safety of foods, medicine and vaccines, but can have negative environmental and economic impacts. Cooling is currently responsible for more than 7 percent of GHG emissions, and this figure is projected to double by 2050 if left unmanaged. Given the adverse impact of cooling on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change, accelerated global efforts on policy, technology and finance availability for sustainable cooling have now become inevitable. Climate-friendly cooling could cut 8 years’ worth of global emissions by 2050.
Current global status
Since the inception of the Kigali Amendment, the need for holistic and synergistic actions on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Kigali Amendment targets has been witnessed globally. National Cooling Action Plans (NCAPs), a global policy best practice, have gained prominence among countries beginning to develop long-term policy strategies. Starting in 2018 several countries opted to develop an NCAP with technical support from specialized agencies and address the cross-cutting nature of cooling, to bring stakeholders from government, industry and academia to the table, discuss needs and possible solutions, and translate this into a document that would provide a roadmap for action.
To accelerate global efforts, in 2020 the Cool Coalition brought together several of these NCAP pioneers and members and developed a guiding framework and holistic but modular methodology for the development of NCAPs that cover cooling comprehensively, including various sectors and end uses, and both met and unmet cooling needs. Currently, over 30 NCAPs are at various stages of development. Several countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia and Pakistan, are piloting the Cool Coalition methodology to develop their plans, and others have leveraged the methodology to strengthen their ongoing work.
Cool Coalition together with its partners organized a series of workshops between June and September 2021 to launch the NCAP Methodology, capture experiences and lessons learned from leading countries, and build capacity among national policymakers and stakeholders on developing and implementing NCAPs in various regions of the world. Some examples are:
India: The India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) was among the first NCAPs launched in March 2019, developed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). The ICAP presents a 20-year outlook on how cooling demand in India will evolve in priority-demand sectors, and outlines strategies and actions that promote sustainable and smart cooling practices across the nation while mitigating adverse impacts. This landmark policy document demonstrates unprecedented inter-ministerial and cross-sectoral collaboration in identifying ambitious goals and laying out actionable pathways.
The government has established an implementation framework through inter-ministerial and cross-sectoral working groups by aligning the plan with sectoral priorities and existing policy frameworks. Multilateral development organizations and financial institutions are increasingly viewing cooling through the ICAP as an investment opportunity, and the World Bank Group has conducted a study to operationalize the implementation of the ICAP through multilateral investments.
Panama: Unlike most NCAPs, Panama’s NCAP falls under the Ministry of Health. The Panama Cooling Plan (PCP) was developed by three key government entities on cooling: the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Environment and the National Secretariat of Energy and was supported by the UNDP. The PCP emphasizes the sustainability of the transition process and the importance of the participation of the private sector and the general public, and places special emphasis on women and the needs of the most vulnerable. The plan is helping the government to align policies and programmes, identify synergies related to climate change, environment and health, and transition to climate-friendly refrigerants.
Rwanda: Rwanda was a pioneer in the development of its NCAP four years ago and now has ambitious cooling targets to reduce GHG emissions to 38 percent, rigorous energy-efficiency regulations and, together with the UK government, is developing the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-Chain (ACES). Its main objective is to address the complex and cross-cutting nature of climate-friendly cooling and incorporate the agriculture, health, industry, and building and construction sectors, both public and private. The NCAP serves as a call to sustained action with strategies that can be built upon over time. It is continuously strengthened and has a built-in ecosystem of multi-sector collaboration. Rwanda has a long-term vision to expand and collaborate regionally and internationally and is developing funding schemes to create access to sustainable cooling solutions and products.
Cambodia: The Government of Cambodia through the Ministry of Environment’s National Ozone Unit and its Department on Climate Change, and in collaboration with six other ministries, has prepared a comprehensive NCAP in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Cool Coalition and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). It has included comprehensive cooling measures in its updated NDC and is now working towards the integration of passive cooling into its green building guidelines.
The aim of the NCAP is to build upon the existing work on the hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) phaseout and forthcoming Kigali Amendment implementation plans to integrate energy-efficiency and demand-reduction measures and in doing so accelerate refrigerant transition and maximize GHG emission reduction benefits. The development of the NCAP has helped the Government of Cambodia unify information on multiple cooling sectors, analyze potential economic, energy and GHG savings and identify pathways to integrate comprehensive action to address its current and future cooling demands.
Way forward and call for action
NCAPs have been recognized by countries, partners, the Technical and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) and the UN alike as key to linking efficiency and the refrigerant transition and maximizing climate benefits.
NCAPs are an important first step to establish frameworks and catalyze integrated and comprehensive action on cooling and cold chains. They can be used as a long-term strategy to achieve NDC targets and develop and deploy Kigali Amendment implementation plans. NCAPs have also helped countries attract finance for implementation.
However, the development of NCAPs requires resources. To date, these resources have been largely provided by the Clean Cooling Collaborative (formerly the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program (K-CEP)). Green Climate Funds (GCF) has indicated that countries can request its readiness funds to develop NCAPs, and several other development banks have also signalled their interest in supporting countries.
The Cool Coalition finance working group will also explore opportunities to support member countries who express an interest in developing NCAPs. However, given the importance of NCAPs in accelerating the refrigerant transition, it is hoped that funds could also be made available under the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol (MLF).
Meet our Global Panel on Access to Cooling member from the Cool Coalition
Chilling Prospects 2022: Lessons learned from developing the India Cooling Action Plan
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Reflections on five years of the Kigali Amendment by the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE) |
Climate change-induced warming trends, population growth and rapid urbanization are driving an unprecedented increase in the global demand for cooling across sectors, including thermal comfort in buildings, food supply chains, storage and transfer of medical products, transport of people, and industrial processes. This growth in cooling is linked with the socioeconomic progress of countries as they work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). India currently has low access to cooling, but its economic progress, coupled with global warming trends, will drive an eight-times increase in the demand for cooling in the next two decades. While India’s projected cooling growth is in step with its development needs, this growth, under a business-as-usual scenario, will strain existing power systems and have an adverse impact on the environment.
India’s Ozone Cell of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), has developed a plan to harmonize the energy efficiency of refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment with refrigerant transition pathways for enhanced climate action (as agreed in the 29th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol). Launched in March 2019, the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) is the first-of-its-kind initiative of its scale in the cooling sector to be taken by any country globally that underscores the urgency of proactively and collaboratively addressing cooling growth. It strikes a balanced approach to goal-setting by establishing high-level nationwide targets while allowing line ministries flexibility in setting their own targets within a directional framework of recommendations.
ICAP’s high-level goals are:
- reduction of cooling demand across sectors by 20–25 percent
- reduction of refrigerant demand by 25–30 percent,
- reduction of cooling energy requirements by 25–40 percent, all by 2037–38
- training and certification of 100,000 service technicians by 2022–23
- recognizing cooling and related areas as a focus area of research under the national science and technology programme.
The Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE) was closely involved in the ICAP development process from inception to completion. AEEE led two of the seven working groups established for sector-specific analysis (space cooling in buildings and the food cold chain), supported the Ozone Cell in synthesizing and integrating the working-group outputs into a cohesive ICAP report, and provided strategic guidance in the Steering and the Inter-ministerial Committees.
AEEE’s key lessons and takeaways from the ICAP development process
It has been just over three years since the launch of the ICAP. Programmes and initiatives are already underway to advance the Plan, despite a slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. AEEE is supporting the operationalization of ICAP through multiple avenues: as part of the Implementation Steering Committee established by the Ozone Cell, as part of the India Cooling Coalition and directly through a multi-year programme to implement ICAP recommendations.
One limitation of the ICAP development process was not including macroeconomic modelling to evaluate the impact of cooling on emissions. Incorporating such a modelling exercise would make the analytical outcomes more robust and is considered a future area of improvement. In parallel, the ongoing collaboration and alignment between the MoEF&CC and other line ministries to help effectively execute the ICAP is important.
ICAP has placed India on the international radar and garnered significant interest in supporting global momentum for the creation of National Cooling Action Plans (NCAPs). The ICAP experience has been influential in guiding the ‘global’ NCAP Methodology developed by AEEE under the leadership of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Economic and Social Commission (UNESCAP) and supported by the Cool Coalition’s NCAP Working Group.
Beyond the direct application for cooling action plans in other countries, the ICAP lessons are relevant to environmental and climate-related policymaking in key areas such as sustainable urban development, greenhouse gas (GHG) net-zero pathways for cities or regions, low-climate impact mobility solutions, including the transition to electric vehicles, and waste management.
Chilling Prospects 2022: Integration of inland waterways in the cold chain in West Bengal
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Reflections on five years of the Kigali Amendment by the World Bank Group |
West Bengal produces a lot of fruits, vegetables and fish, and has well-connected networks of highways and railways. However, transport accounts for 2.6 million tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the state. In addition, inefficiencies and a lack of transport connectivity adversely affect the state’s economy, increase congestion and contribute to post-harvest losses of temperature-sensitive goods. Waterways have the potential to support a multi-modal cold chain transportation network with reduced emissions, environmental impact, fuel usage and costs.
Potential of inland waterways
| Environmental impact | 7 times less than roadways |
| Carbon friendly mode of transport | For every tonne-km transported on water, the GHG emission is estimated to be 50% of that by road |
| Most fuel-efficient mode of transport | 105 tonne-km by with 1-litre fuel |
| Low maintenance cost | 20% that of road |
| Low capital cost | 5-10% to that of a 4-lane highway/railway |
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Source: World Bank Group |
Improving the inland waterways infrastructure
To address this, the Government of India, the Government of West Bengal and the World Bank signed a USD 105 million project to improve inland waterway (IW) infrastructure and spatial planning in Kolkata in January 2021. To complement this lending project, the World Bank with funding from the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) contracted KPMG India and the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) to undertake a pilot study on IW integration in the West Bengal Cold Chain to reduce congestion, GHG emissions and hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerant usage.
The initial baseline assessment of the project reviewed the demand and emissions of temperature-sensitive goods such as fruits, vegetables and fish in West Bengal across the post-harvest, primary-transport, cold-storage and distribution segments of the cold chain. The study, conducted by KPMG India and IRR under the World Bank, found that in 2020, the total Temperature Controlled Logistics (TCL) demand was 6.28 million tonnes, accounting for 1.98 million MWh of energy consumption and over 620,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.
A key driver of the demand arises from the production and transportation of temperature-sensitive goods. About 65-70 percent of freight in India is transported by road and the transportation of fruits and vegetables to and from Kolkata wholesale markets and mandis primarily takes place in non-refrigerated trucks. This results in food spoiling, reduced shelf life and post-harvest losses to the tune of 10-15 percent. The global footprint of food loss and waste excluding emissions from land-use change is 3.3 gigatonnes of GHG, corresponding to about 7 percent of total GHG emissions. There is a need for a new cold chain infrastructure for most products.
An efficient, well connected cold chain in West Bengal has the potential to significantly reduce post-harvest losses
The Government of India has shown a keen interest in IWs as a means of diversifying and improving the transport modal mix, which could also reduce post-harvest losses while reducing the negative environmental impact and cost of meeting the cold chain demand. IW transport has an environmental impact which is seven times less than roadways, and for every tonne-Km transported on water, the GHG emission is estimated to be 50 percent of that by road. Additionally, IW is a fuel-efficient mode of transport (105 tonne/km with one litre of fuel), has a lower capital cost (about 5–10 percent of that of a four-lane highway/ railway), and maintenance costs 20 percent lower than roads. In order to understand the feasibility of transporting temperature-sensitive goods on waterways, the study looked at the potential impact of diverting traffic to IW.
Integrating inland waterways with RoRo cargo services
In 2026, there is the potential to divert around 30,556 tonnes of traffic to IW while around 233,409 tonnes could potentially be diverted via roll-on roll-off (RoRo) cargo service. In 2035, around 210,419 tonnes could be diverted to IW and around 1,084,346 tonnes could be diverted to RoRo. With the integration of IW and RoRo services, there is the potential for GHG emissions savings of around 10 percent and 27 percent in 2026 and 2035, respectively. In addition, with the adoption of newer technologies, fisheries could save up to 77 percent of their energy consumption by 2030 and fruits and vegetables could save up to 77 percent. Cold storage for potatoes could save up to 75 percent by shifting to improved technologies. The fruit and vegetable value chain could save about 38 percent in post-harvest refrigeration but could save up to 77 percent in transportation. The dairy value chain could save 83 percent of its energy demand by the end of 2030.
Overall, the integration of IW in sustainable cold chains is promising but requires context-specific evaluation. The study in West Bengal is expected to inform the financing of ‘greener’ vessels with energy-efficient cooling technologies that can have significant climate benefits. However, the refrigerant market is underdeveloped in India and West Bengal. Some cold chain facilities operate using R22 or R404A, which are higher Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants. R22 will be banned from use in India in 2030.
Reaping climate and economic benefits
However, while refrigerants such as R717 with low GWP would be preferable, it is prohibited in the KMA following the 2011 ammonia gas leaks that had detrimental health and safety impacts. In addition, the initial findings of the assessment of the three pilot models (for potatoes, Tetra Pak milk and fisheries) noted that the longer travel time needed by IW may not be well suited for certain temperature-sensitive goods. Based on these results, by 2025 these barriers will need to be addressed to effectively divert temperature-sensitive goods to IW and reap the associated climate and economic benefits.
Meet our Global Panel on Access to Cooling member from the World Bank Group
Chilling Prospects 2022: Using data science and innovative business models to strengthen agricultural cold chains in India and Nigeria
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Reflections on five years of the Kigali Amendment by the Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy (BASE) |
With a warming planet, growing population and developing economies, the global demand for cooling is set to triple by 2050. To address the rising demand for energy and curb the release of toxic gases into the atmosphere, in 2018 the Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy (BASE) launched the Cooling as a Service (CaaS) initiative, which significantly accelerated the uptake of clean, energy-efficient cooling technologies around the world in a way that targets sustainable business growth and mitigates the impact of cooling on the climate.
The initiative established an alliance, which today has more than 70 companies on board, and its business model has been implemented in a variety of sectors and buildings, spanning education to healthcare, industry to commerce. The model is based on the servitization strategy, through which customers purchase cooling, rather than having to invest in and operate the infrastructure needed for cooling. By removing the hurdles of high upfront investment and operation and by aligning incentives towards efficiency, the model powerfully tackles the need for cooling and addresses its impact on climate change.
Applied in agricultural cold chains, CaaS enables access to cooling for small- and medium-scale farms, increasing the quality and value of food, and reducing waste. Every year, farmers in India incur nearly USD 12,520 million in post-harvest losses due to inadequate storage facilities and a lack of energy infrastructure. 25 to 35 percent of cultivated food is wasted due to a lack of proper refrigeration and other supply chain bottlenecks, and only 6 percent of the food produced in India currently moves through the cold chain. To make matters worse, information asymmetry and the lack of quality consciousness, crucial for setting the price of crops, lower farmers’ ability to monetize on their produce and earn proportionately to their original investment. Many other countries face similar problems.
To address these problems, BASE and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Sciences and Technology (Empa) came together under the data.org global innovation challenge to launch the Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant (Your VCCA) initiative in India, which was later expanded to Nigeria with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Your VCCA enables smallholder farmers to access cold storage by paying per crate per day and to leverage market intelligence via an open-access, data-driven mobile application.
Cold storage providers in India and Nigeria are adopting the app to digitize key processes, such as introducing a digital inventory, which can help operationalize CaaS. Through these processes, the app provides users with post-harvest expertise to predict the shelf life of produce in storage rooms, equipping farmers with the information and technical support required to secure the best possible price for their produce.
Partners in India include Coolcrop, Oorja and Koel Fresh, while in Nigeria the project’s first partner is ColdHubs. In order to support the effective rollout of CaaS in the agricultural sector, BASE and Empa have also designed a multi-layer interactive web map by collating and visualizing different raster and vector data layers related to India’s fresh produce supply chain to help stakeholders understand the potential for sustainable cooling solutions across the country. This is an example of how innovative business models can be combined with leveraging data-driven techniques to transform the agriculture sector and strengthen agri-food systems and supply chains.
By gaining access to cooling facilities and market intelligence, it is possible to improve food security, increase smallholders’ income, and reduce food loss, while mitigating the impact of cooling on the environment. Currently, CaaS is being implemented in India and in Nigeria, benefitting over 500 farmers. It is already gaining significant traction and since it will be made available through open source, its adoption can be scaled up well beyond the pilot regions and countries. The innovative components of the mobile app can also be integrated into existing digital solutions to facilitate its adoption and secure a wider impact.
A large rollout of CaaS by 2025 would translate into its widescale adoption in the agricultural supply chain and improved access to market intelligence to those who need it most, reducing food loss and increasing smallholder income around the world while limiting the impact of agriculture and cold storage on the climate through the use of sustainable technology.
