India and Germany plan to expand their environment and climate protection cooperation. "Cooperation with India offers great investment opportunities for German industry. It is an essential part of the strategic environment dialogue which we use to intensively advocate an ambitious result in international climate negotiations", said German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel at the opening of the first Indo-German Environment Forum in New Delhi. The focus of this dialogue is on climate and energy policy, on water, waste water and waste management. Around 250 representatives from enterprises, associations and government participated in the 2-day-event.
India is among the most active users of climate protection transfers under the Kyoto Protocol (Clean Development Mechanism - CDM) and one of the most important partners for CDM projects by German companies. Both the economic potential of energy and resource efficiency and the increased use of regenerative energies have triggered a strong interest in environmental technologies in India. Minister Gabriel: "In my talks with government and industry representatives it became clear that there is currently a change of paradigms in India which opens up an enormous growth market for environmental technology "made in Germany".
Minister Gabriel stressed India’s enormous demand for waste water technology pointing out that currently only 20 percent of total waste water undergoes waste water treatment. Cooperation would comprise solutions for inner city sewage systems as well as decentralized waste water treatment plants in rural areas. The resulting biomass can be used for biogas generation, a renewable energy with a multiple use span.
"Renewable energies are indispensable if about 400 million Indians who are currently not connected to a grid are to be supplied with electricity. This would certainly give India’s rural areas, which do not have any power supply, a boost in both economic and social terms", said Minister Gabriel.
From the funds available under the international climate protection initiative – proceeds from the auctioning of emissions trading certificates - 10 million euro are earmarked for climate protection projects in India. The projects are, for example, geared towards improving energy efficiency in Indian industry, using combined heat and power and expanding renewable energies. In addition, a credit line of up to 65 million euro is envisaged for climate protection projects.
The German Environment Ministry provides targeted support for export activities in order to promote "Greentech Made in Germany" in the international market. Export initiatives RETech and the German Water Partnership offer a platform for waste and water management companies. The German Environment Ministry also has a service unit for environmental technology export and CDM projects. Minister Gabriel and his Indian colleague Regupathy welcomed the latest CDM initiative of a German company which was presented at the Environmental Forum: Osram intends to equip private households in several Indian states with a total of 1.2 million energy-saving light bulbs. According to Osram this could help save up to 800,000 tonnes of CO2.