Dedicated, Naturally.Green Energy, Climate Neutral, Water

The ProjectThe majority of families in rural areas of India depend on wood as a source of household energy. As a result, the wood resources degrade constantly. Furthermore, collecting firewood, which is traditionally a female task, is time and labor intensive, leaving little time for preparing nutritious meals or boiling water for safe consumption. Hence, many families suffer from malnutrition and waterborne diseases. In addition, the smoke generated by traditional wood fires can have severe health impacts. And, not least, the disposal of animal excrement is a sanitary problem.

This project, developed by First Climate, Indian NGO INSEDA and Germany`s Governmental Agency for International Development (GIZ) aims to provide a sustainable solution to all these problems: To date, about 7,000 households have been provided with their own biogas plant to utilize the free and sustainable energy contained in their animals’ excrement for cooking, household lighting and boiling water.

Apart from the technical equipment the households are also provided with free training and maintenance services. This helps to guarantee reliability and availability of the biogas supply.

Location:Kerala & Madhya Pradesh, India

Project type:Renewable energy: Biogas

Project standard:Gold Standard

Project start date:Phase 1: 2007 Phase 2: 2013

Total emission reductions : > > 28,000t CO2 e p.a. < <

Key FactsCertification:

Climate protection and development goals can be seamlessly linked, and our projects aim to advance both together. When you choose to offset carbon emissions with a high quality project, your support will therefore provide an array of economic, social and environmental benefits to the project region. Thus, carbon certificatescan also serve as a reputable vehicle for delivering development funds.

A case study by London Imperial College from 2015 investigated the co-benefits of phase 1 of our Indian household biogas project in order to monetize their financial value. The conclusion: offsetting one tonne of CO2 delivers an average of 303 US$ worth of economic benefit to the environment and local communities in India.

Monetizing co-benefits

India

India: Clean biogas for 7,000 households

Dedicated, Naturally.Green Energy, Climate Neutral, Water

Sustainable Development By supporting this project you’ll contribute to the following Sustainable Development Goals:

In case of the Indian household biogas project the value of the co-benefits was monetized by a case study of London Imperial College from 2015. According to this study, the financial value of the projects‘ health benefits amount to an equivalent of 7,800,000 Mio. US$ per year. The financial value of employment creation was found to amount to a total of 29,000 US$ per year, the value of forest conservation was calculated with 195,000 US$ per year. The total fuel savings of the project housholds amount to 590,000 per year.

Good health and well-being: According to the WHO, 4,3 million people per year die prematurely from illnesses attributa-ble to household air pollution. By utilizing biogas as a clean and safe source of energy, the project helps to cut morbidity and mortality rates in the project region.

Clean water and sanitation: A reliable biogas supply facilitates boiling of water for disinfection. Compared to open log fires, there is no need to spend time on collecting firewood which may lead to carelessness when using contaminated water. The biogas digesters therefore help to prevent the spreading of water-borne diseases.

Affordable and clean energy: The project supports households whose ave-rage monthly income ranges between 10 and 20 US$ per month. Employing less polluting fuel other than biogas – for example kerosene – would require households to spend 30-50% of their income indefinitely. Biogas also helps families to achieve savings on fuelwood.

While focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, all our projects also generate mul-tiple co-benefits. These are supportive of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Decent work and economic growth: The project improves the economic level of the local communities by employing local people during the construction phase of the biogas plants, for the training of the end users, and for the tech-nical service and maintenance.

Life on land: The project reduces the reliance on wood as a fuel. Slowing deforestation yields direct benefits like slowing soil erosion, the destruction of natural habitats, and loss of biodiversity.

Dedicated, Naturally.Green Energy, Climate Neutral, Water

Scientific brief – how it worksHousehold-sized biogas plants reduce greenhouse gas emissions by curbing the non-sustainable use of biomass resources. While wood for example is generally considered a carbon neutral fuel, continuous use beyond the replenishment of biomass stocks renders it a net emission source. In the project host states of Kerala and Madhya Pradesh only 5-10% of firewood is from sustainable sources, i.e. truly carbon neutral.

Biogas is created through a process of anaerobic digestion, whereby microorganisms break down biodegra-dable materials under oxygen-free conditions. To generate biogas, biomass such as animal waste is mixed with water and then fed into the plant where it is digested over a period of about eight weeks.

The gas is extracted via a valve located in the roof of the digestion tank. Constructed underground, the digester can operate for more than 20 years. The plants are built through locally available materials and labour, thus generating additional employment opportunities.

Project Standard

The Gold Standard is an award winning certification standard for results based project finance and is recognised internationally as the benchmark for quality and rigour in certifying environmental and socio-economic project outputs.

Established in 2003 by the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), the Gold Standard today is trusted and endorsed by NGOs, governments and multinationals including United Nations agencies worldwide.

First Climate Markets AGIndustriestr. 1061118 Bad Vilbel - Frankfurt/MainGermany

Phone: +49 6101 556 58 0E-Mail: cn@firstclimate.com

For more information on otherprojects in our portfolio pleasevisit our website:

www.firstclimate.com

26-08-41

Facts and Figures

First Climate Markets AGIndustriestr. 1061118 Bad Vilbel - Frankfurt/Main Germany

Tel: +49 6101 556 58 0E-Mail: cn@firstclimate.com

Dedicated, Naturally.Green Energy, Climate Neutral, Water

Every m3 of biodigester avoids 2t CO2 every year

2t CO2

300,000 – 400,000 people die of indoor air pollution in India every

year [WHO, 2011]

up to 400,000

283t per day is the total amount of cow dung used to run all plants

283t/day

More than 150 jobs were created in course of the project.

150 jobs

India is the Worlds’ No 1 consumer of fuel wood and bio-

mass for energy

206 kgof coal equivalent per capita annually

INDIA

Every biodigester has a capacity of 1-6 m3

1-6 m3

23-13-007