Energy-efficient appliances are crucial to achieving multiple policy objectives in India. They offer a lower burden of electricity bills for consumers; peak load reduction; lower losses and cross-subsidy burden for power distribution companies; and reduced expenditure on power subsidies for state governments. The promotion of energy-efficient appliances would be critical to meeting India's commitment to reduce the emissions intensity of GDP by 45 per cent over 2005 levels by 2030.

Ceiling fans are one the most commonly used appliances for cooling and ventilation. Yet, only a small fraction of the ceiling fans' stock and market sales currently comprises energy-efficient models. Transforming the ceiling fan market toward super-efficient fans can save 15 per cent of India’s residential power consumption annually.

In this session, we will discuss strategies to scale up super-efficient appliances, with a focus on ceiling fans and the role of different stakeholders in market transformation. The session would also mark the launch of a new report on ‘Business model for scaling up super-efficient appliances: A Deep Dive on Ceiling Fans in India’, developed under the U.S.–India Clean Energy Finance Task Force.

India is already experiencing a preview of the large-scale disasters and socio-economic upheaval that extreme events could create. India's development is intricately linked to creating adequate mitigation capacity to respond to these climate risks, which are endangering power, housing, transport, and industry infrastructure – especially along the coasts – and vulnerable communities with low adaptive capacity. Further, with weather-related insurance losses mounting, there are warning signs that climate change could trigger the next financial crisis. Therefore, the need for low-cost finance, and climate-proofing of communities, infrastructure and economies, is critical.

In this pre-COP session, we will explore ways to take climate risk assessments from theory to implementation and spur innovations in systems, finance, and technologies to climate-proof populations and economies. We will also launch CEEW's new study, 'Mapping India's Climate Vulnerability: A District-level Assessment'.

Developing and deploying a hydrogen economy will be integral to India’s clean energy transition – especially for the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors – and climate action. This session will focus on the multilateral effort required to build such a global hydrogen economy through conducive international policies, technology co-development, pooled finances for demonstrations and pilots, and investments to create markets and scale up deployment.

The session will also mark the launch of two new publications, 'Greening Steel: Moving to Clean Steelmaking Using Hydrogen and Renewable Energy' and 'Speed and Scale for Disruptive Climate Technologies: Case for a Global Green Hydrogen Alliance'.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, the Government of India distributed more than 80 million LPG connections among socioeconomically weaker households within a short span of 18 months. Ujjwala 2.0 aims to widen LPG access to an additional 10 million homes. However, despite access to LPG connections, several barriers – like fuel affordability – force many households to stack solid fuels with LPG. The affordability barrier has become more pronounced with the rise in the market price of LPG, suspension of LPG subsidies, and the drop in household incomes due to the pandemic-induced economic crisis.

In this session, we will deliberate on the need and strategies to make LPG affordable for low-income groups in India. The session will also mark the launch of a new CEEW study, 'State of clean cooking energy access in India', based on the India Residential Energy Survey (IRES) 2020.