The Purpose of Climate Solutions Partnership

Deploying Nature-based Solutions for Resilience against Climate Change

India is expected to have one of the largest populations impacted by climate change. People across the country are already facing severe weather events with alarming frequency. Rebuilding lives and livelihoods after every calamity results in short-lived gains when it’s not complemented by efforts to build lasting resilience against climate risks.

The cost of this rebuilding is also running tremendously high around the world. A recent report from a reinsurance company, Munich Re, estimated that hurricanes, wildfires, and floods exacerbated by climate change cost the world around USD 220 billion in 2020, of which only USD 82 billion was insured.

Conservation of wetlands is an effective way to build climate resilience. Scientists advocate for prioritising this approach for a host of reasons: firstly, it allows for the deployment of diverse and high-level nature-based solutions (NbS); secondly, one can get quick results; and thirdly, its potential for climate mitigation and adaptation is high.

The Climate Solutions Partnership (CSP) is developing and demonstrating a portfolio of NbS for rural, urban, and peri-urban areas based on a common set of principles. The regions covered under this initiative are: West Bengal (Sundarbans) and Karnataka (Urban, Peri-urban Bengaluru and Arkavathi River), both of which are bearing the brunt of climate change and related events.

Nature-based Solutions in Bengaluru, Karnataka

Meanwhile, Bengaluru and its peri-urban areas are more prone to droughts and floods today than ever before. The area’s system of inland lakes and wetlands, which helped climate-proof the city against extreme weather events and provided water security, have shrunk by nearly 75 per cent over the last four decades. At the same time, there has been a 66 per cent increase in seasonal rainfall. The city’s water stress is only aggravated by groundwater over-exploitation, industrial pollution, and domestic sewage.

Nature-based Solutions in Sundarbans, West Bengal

In the Sundarbans, extreme weather events have repeatedly marred the local community. The islands in the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove delta, are witnessing one of the fastest rates of coastal erosion in the world as the impact of human-induced climate change is accelerating. Over the past two decades, the sea level at the vast mangrove delta has risen by an average of 3 cm every year, jeopardising both the vulnerable communities and the wildlife that depend on this fragile ecosystem.

Enabling Energy Transition through Distributed Renewable Energy

Although energy access has improved in India’s rural areas, regions like the Sundarbans are still waiting for reliable and clean energy supply for household as well as livelihood purposes. In certain energy-intensive sectors like the dairy cold chain, there is significant scope for energy transition. Lack of awareness, inability to raise and absorb financial support, and lack of conducive policies have been some of the main deterrents to the uptake of renewable energy.

Focussed on a distributed renewable energy approach, CSP aims to create a portfolio of RE solutions for mitigating carbon emissions as well as securing livelihood opportunities for vulnerable communities in the Sundarbans (West Bengal), Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

Productive Renewable Energy in Rural Areas

Access to modern energy services remains a major issue in the Sundarbans. Energy-related issues range from mobility to water purification.

The isolation of the region, as well as the rough terrain, make last-mile connectivity a huge challenge. Van-rickshaws and boats run on inefficient diesel engines, leading to high emissions and pollution of drinking water as there is no means of purification or desalination. The purification of water for drinking purposes is also a challenge in the face of severe weather events and disruptions in power supply. Climate change has only exacerbated these problems.

Harnessing the potential of renewable energy for productive use in transforming transport and water supply might be key to strengthening the livelihoods of forest fringe communities.

Mitigating Carbon Emissions in the Milk Value Chain

India is the world's largest milk producer—with a 23% share of the world’s total milk production in 2021. But milk loss and wastage across the value chain remains a major challenge. Although less than 5 per cent of the milk is lost this way, its quality is impacted by a lack of cold-chain infrastructure.

Cold chain is the second largest contributor of carbon emissions in the dairy sector consuming 25-30 per cent of the total energy consumption of a dairy farm. In FY 2017-18, the Indian cold chain industry released 72.42 million tonnes of CO2-eq (carbon dioxide equivalent). The existing cold-chain infrastructure in the dairy industry is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, primarily due to the use of diesel as an energy source. A transition to renewable energy, integrated with energy-efficient technologies, would decrease greenhouse gas emissions, reduce energy consumption and operational costs, and improve dairy farmers' income through improved milk quality.