Cooperation strengthens India’s energy transition
By collaborating with partners and providing targeted advice, GIZ has made a crucial contribution to advancing India’s energy transition. One example of this is the development of a special emissions trading scheme – with tangible and measurable results.
As the most populous country on Earth, India plays a key role in addressing global challenges such as mitigating climate change and reducing poverty. The country is committed to raising the standard of living of its 1.43 billion inhabitants while, at the same time, lowering greenhouse gas emissions. In recent years, the Indian Government has therefore placed greater emphasis on energy efficiency and renewable energy. The share of electricity generated from coal is steadily decreasing.
GIZ has supported this process through a project commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The aim of this project was to increase the amount of electricity from wind and solar being fed into India’s power grid without interruption to the power supply. It also contributed to more efficient energy use throughout the country.
Indian variant of emissions trading
A major success factor here was the close cooperation with the Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). In conjunction with GIZ, BEE developed an Indian variant of emissions trading. Under this scheme, over 110 million tonnes of CO₂ are now being avoided annually, which is equivalent to almost 20 per cent of Germany’s CO₂ output. The emissions trading scheme offers an incentive to India’s heavy industry in particular to install new energy-efficient technology. This significantly reduces the amount of energy needed to make products such as steel, aluminium and cement.
GIZ has also worked systematically with Indian, international and German partners on the second project priority – improving the integration of renewable energy into the power grid. In the past 10 years, KfW, for example, has invested more than EUR 1.4 billion towards this goal. Grid operators have used this funding to build power lines and substations on behalf of the Indian Government. As a result, electricity from remote wind and solar sources now reaches people more efficiently. GIZ played a key role in this development by expanding knowledge and providing advice on the design of policy frameworks.
It builds trust, creates markets and forges partnerships – and this is also beneficial for Germany:
- It strengthens global energy security
- It opens up emerging markets for green technology
- It creates career opportunities for skilled workers who are also needed in Germany.
More on our advisory services:
Training solar technicians
To expand the use of solar energy at the consumer level, GIZ trained men and women in the installation and maintenance of rooftop solar modules. In cooperation with partner institutions, particularly in the Indian state of Gujarat, a hands-on approach was taken: young people were sent from door to door as solar ambassadors with the aim of explaining the advantages and sharing their knowledge. In parallel, a digital solar portal was launched to consolidate information and make it easier to get started. The result: in just one year, 100,000 rooftop photovoltaic systems were installed in Gujarat alone.
With this project, GIZ successfully built partnerships in a smart and effective way. The project is therefore rated as highly successful in GIZ’s Evaluation Report 2024.
More on the success factors, the criticisms raised and how GIZ responded to these can be found in our Evaluation Report 2024.
You can find the Evaluation Report 2024 ‘Energy for Development’ here.
