Reducing air pollution in India’s industrial clusters through smart energy management

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Year
2019
2021
Beneficiary
India
Funding
CCAC Funded
Implementing partners
India

Rapid economic growth has brought many benefits to India but has come at a cost to human health and the environment. Growth in industrial production and urban transport has led to poor air quality in many Indian cities and industrial clusters. 

Of the 20 cities in the world with the worst air pollution, 12 are in India. 12.5% of deaths in India in 2017 were caused by air pollution, and these numbers could continue to rise. There is an urgent need to address the rapidly worsening effects of air pollution — on human health as well as on the global climate — and to implement measures to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in India’s cities and industrial clusters. In addition, there is a need for detailed source apportionment analysis in Indian industrial clusters and cities, to facilitate informed decision making and investment in emissions reductions strategies. 

About the project

The International Institute for Energy Conservation is helping to build air quality monitoring and tracking capacity among government, industrial, and utility partners, and to demonstrate and deliver cost-effective air pollution reduction strategies in two industrial Indian states—Gujarat and Odisha—through smart management of industrial and utility energy use. These states were selected based on a needs assessment and the demonstrated interest and commitment of their Pollution Control Boards.

This project responds to a large body of evidence that points to industrial and power plant emissions as two of the major sources of air pollution in many of India’s urban areas. It also builds on an increasing number of studies demonstrating the effectiveness of smart energy management as a strategy for reducing air pollution in various regions. Finally, this project is designed to leverage the potential for private financing of solutions in the industrial and utility sectors.  

This project will transform efforts to mitigate air pollution from the industrial and power sectors by addressing two key barriers to the adoption of energy management as a solution to the deteriorating air quality in Asian cities: 1) Lack of a demonstrated link between smart energy management and air quality improvements; and 2) the difficulty of financing smart energy solutions, including energy efficiency and renewable energy, that could help address air pollution in industrialized urban areas.

By establishing a clear connection between industrial energy use and air quality, and showing how highly polluted cities can attract bundled private finance for clean energy solutions to help address their air pollution, the project will help create a new market for integrated energy efficiency, demand-side management, and renewable energy solutions. 


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