India has won commitments of $782.4 million from the Green Climate Fund toward mitigation and adaptation climate projects, thus registering some major success in the global fight against climate change. To support eleven urgent initiatives spread across diverse sectors, the money, to be provided under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, would be a booster to India’s dream of sustainable development and climate resilience.
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The GCF, established in 2010 as an output of COP-16, is a facility that will assist developing countries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and overcoming the threats associated with climate change by increasing their adaptation capacity. The GCF made its first project and program approvals in 2015 and offers several resources in the form of grants, loans, equity, and guarantees to this end.
The sectors for which India has undertaken to clear projects are in the areas of water, clean energy, coastal resilience, livelihoods, transportation, medium and small enterprises, and climate startups. This signifies the many projects that the country is investing in as part of taking up a holistic approach to mitigate climate change challenges.
Another important example of work is the Groundwater Recharge and Solar Micro Irrigation in Odisha for ensuring food security and building resilience in vulnerable tribal areas. This project has received a sanctioned amount of grant award to be $34.357 million. Another important project is the Line of Credit for the Solar Rooftop Segment, to which a concessional loan of $100 million was sanctioned to do diffusion of solar energy in commercial, industrial, and residential uses.
More key projects are in the tune of $43.418 million to Enhance Climate Resilience of India’s Coastal Communities, with assistance in enhancing resilience on the coasts to climate impacts. The other is the Green Growth Equity Fund, committed $137 million, $132.5 million representing equity and $4.5 million for grants to meet green growth priorities.
For example, $200 million in equity funding went toward the India E-Mobility Financing Program, which is meant to help drive the shift to using electric vehicles. Other projects are the Climate Investor Two and Climate Investor One, which are both multi-country initiatives with grant amounts of USD 145 million and USD 100 million, respectively.
The Green Guarantee Company received $40.5 million, and Project GAIA secured $152.5 million in equity. They both are focused on sustainable development and climate resilience.
Some of the projects approved are Avaana Sustainability Fund and Financing Mitigation and Adaptation Projects (FMAP) of Indian MSMEs, of which the latter receives $215.6 million that includes a concessional loan of $200 million and a grant of $15.6 million.
This strategic engagement with the GCF is a result of the proactive steps that India has taken toward a sustainable future. The projects will accrue to the nation huge co-benefits toward climate resilience and low-emission development to secure a sustainable future.
This was stated by the Minister of State for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
