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Forbes
08-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
From AI Grid Management To Hydrogen, India's Climate Tech Sector Is Growing
(Photo by MONEY SHARMA/AFP via Getty Images) While India's energy sector faces significant scaling challenges – decarbonizing a rapidly growing economy with a population of 1.4 billion that is projected to account for 25% of global energy demand growth over the next two decades, according to the International Energy Agency – this dynamic also presents a unique opportunity. India has pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2070 and aims to meet 50% of its energy needs from renewables by 2030. To support this, the government has adopted bold steps, including the production-linked schemes to boost domestic manufacturing in solar modules, batteries, and green hydrogen technologies. The U.S.–China tariff fallout has also prompted a reevaluation of global supply chains. In response, Indian companies like ours are stepping up to fill critical gaps left by Chinese suppliers in the U.S. market, especially in solar exports. However, when it comes to climate innovation, the true potential lies beyond manufacturing. As of 2024, there are over 800 Indian climate tech startups, with breakthroughs spanning scalable energy storage, green hydrogen, and AI-powered grid management. A digital-first, problem-solving mindset is fueling a new wave of climate entrepreneurship in the country. For example, AI-powered grid management systems, such as the system developed by POSOCO, are helping balance intermittent renewables with real-time consumption. Affordable energy storage solutions are being tailored for both utility-scale applications and rural microgrids, and breakthroughs in scalable green hydrogen applications are helping decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors. Overall, Indian solar power startups have continued attracting interest from international investors even when economic conditions have cooled the broader market. In January 2024 alone, they raised nearly $1 billion, compared to a total of $1.55 billion in all of 2023. Because Indian startups are innovating for both resilience in low-resource conditions and replication outside of India, these companies have the potential to set the bar for how energy companies operate in the future. On the other hand, climate tech in India needs significant international investment. To meet net zero, an estimated $10 trillion in cumulative investment is needed, according to The Council on Energy, Environment and Water, to meet that stated 2070 sustainability goal. However, access to affordable capital remains a major constraint, particularly for early-stage and infrastructure-heavy projects. Risk guarantee instruments, including credit guarantees and political and economic risk insurance, are critical, particularly for startups. If domestic capital markets evolve to price climate risks appropriately and reward green investments, more businesses will change their priorities. Climate change is a shared global challenge, and made-in-India solutions can play a central role in global decarbonization. Partnerships between Indian startups and global R&D labs, accelerators, and universities are helping accelerate this process, such as the case with IIT Madras Research Park and Technische Universität (TU) Berlin. All of this is taking place alongside enhanced engagement with climate funds and export credit agencies to support outward scaling. As of 2025, India is entering an exciting yet uniquely challenging phase in its history with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead by example. The green industrial revolution will not have a one-size-fits-all model. Instead, the future of the energy sector will be defined by adaptable innovation. As India transitions to a low-carbon economy, defining a new model for the nation and industries in alignment with net zero, startups that focus on local solutions can create globally applicable models that accelerate growth that benefits both people and the planet.
Zawya
04-07-2025
- Health
- Zawya
Africa: How to escape the trap of curative consumption for health production?
Africa stands at a pivotal moment in its health journey. While challenges such as shifting global priorities and reduced donor support are significant, the more pressing issue lies within the very foundation of our health systems. At the heart of the problem is a structural design that focuses more on responding to illness than on keeping people healthy. With a population of over 1.4 billion — and expected to represent one in five people globally in the near future — the continent finds itself caught in a troubling paradox. Even as we make strides in managing infectious diseases, many African health systems remain under-resourced, stretched thin, and heavily reliant on curative care. The emphasis continues to be on costly, hospital-based treatments rather than on prevention, health education, and community-based approaches that could ease the burden of disease and improve overall well-being. This model is neither sustainable nor equitable, and it keeps us locked in what I call the 'curative consumption trap.' It drains our already limited resources, perpetuates inequities, and undermines our vision for universal health coverage (UHC). It's time to shift from a reactive, hospital-centric model to one that invests in health production — resilient, community-driven, people-centred systems that prevent disease, empower people, and build a healthier future for all Africans. A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that high-income countries spend around $4,000 per capita on healthcare, mostly through public financing. In sub-Saharan Africa, that figure is closer to $40, and that's assuming countries meet the aspirational goal of allocating 15 percent of national budgets to health. Most do not. Can Africa afford healthcare as currently structured? The answer is clearly no. This consumption-based model has colonial roots built for the rich who came to Africa and needed a health system that reflected their needs as they were used to back in their home countries and reinforced by political incentives that favour short-term infrastructure projects over long-term people-centred reforms. During the recent Africa Health Agenda International Conference (AHAIC) 2025 in Kigali, it was evident that many African health systems still focus on treating disease rather than preventing it — a legacy that must be urgently overcome. The curative consumption trap: A vicious cycleHospitals and clinics often serve as the epicentre of care, with resources skewed toward expensive, tertiary-level interventions that politicians prioritise to appeal to voters. This curative bias is evident and at the expense of addressing preventative measures needed to reduce the disease burden, such as the rising tide of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, hypertension, and cancer. In 2019, NCDs accounted for 37 percent of deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, up from 24 percent in 2000, and the burden is rising. Our systems are ill-equipped to manage this growing crisis. The curative consumption trap is fuelled by several factors. First, a post-colonial bias for infrastructure-heavy, specialist-led care over community-based approaches informed by the health needs of those who built the health systems. Second, a health workforce trained to treat illness, not promote wellness. In medical school, for instance, I recall spending just one lethargic month on community health attachment, compared to years learning about diagnosis, surgery, and pharmacology. This narrative is supported by political incentive as infrastructure is a politician vote driver and historical budgeting approaches prioritise infrastructure and equipment procurement. Third, a lack of trust in unfriendly distant supply-driven health systems leads people to seek care only when they are really sick, resulting in late diagnoses and high treatment costs. This isn't just a health issue, but a social and economic crisis. When systems focus on curing instead of preventing, they consume scarce financial and human resources while ignoring root causes such as unsafe water, poor sanitation, undernutrition, and the proliferation of unhealthy processed foods full of industrial trans fats and sweetened beverages. The result is high costs for health services with families pushed into poverty by catastrophic healthcare costs from out of pocket expenditure. The result is a vicious cycle where illness perpetuates poverty, and poverty perpetuates illness. Shifting the focus to health productionTo break this cycle, we need to embrace a model of health production: one that keeps people healthy, empowers communities, and addresses social determinants of health. It should be proactive, equitable, people-centred and sustainable, ensuring that every African has access to the tools and knowledge to live a healthy life, including reproductive health services for adolescents and women. This requires two major shifts. First, we must prioritise preventive and promotive health. Prevention is the cornerstone of health production. Evidence shows that primary healthcare, with a focus on primary care and prevention, community empowerment and engagement and multi-sectorial approaches improves health outcomes, enhances equity, and increases system efficiency. Yet, only 48 percent of Africans have access to primary healthcare services, leaving 615 million people without adequate services. To address this, we need to invest in community health systems including Community Health workers (CHWs), who are the backbone of primary healthcare. CHWs are often the first and only point of contact for underserved communities. They deliver preventive services such as vaccines, they educate communities on healthy practices, and detect early warning signs of disease, yet, many remain underpaid, undertrained, and disconnected from formal health systems. Governments need to commit to financing and integrating CHW programmes into national health systems, as outlined in the 2018 WHO guidelines— not as stopgaps, but as core pillars of national health strategy. Promotive health also means tackling the social determinants of health—poverty, education, clean water and sanitation, nutrition, and environmental factors. We also need policies that tackle risk factors. Taxing unhealthy products like industrial trans fats, tobacco, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened beverages can reduce the burden of NCDs while generating revenue for health programmes. These funds can be channelled into community-led initiatives that promote clean water, sanitation, and nutrition, addressing the root causes of disease. Second, we need to empower communities as active participants in their health. Health systems cannot succeed without the trust and participation of the people they serve. Too often, African health systems are designed around institutions and diseases rather than people. Some have jokingly referred to our ministries of health as "ministries of disease" — a reflection of how disconnected the system can feel from lived realities. Communities — including youth, women, and marginalised groups — must have a seat at the decision-making table. Health policies should be co-designed and governed by those they are meant to serve. It's time to update the current WHO framework and recognise 'people' as the seventh building block of effective health systems, alongside service delivery, health workforce, information systems, health financing, access to medicines and health technologies, as well as leadership governance. Empowering communities also requires fostering accountability. Civil society-led mechanisms can hold governments, private sector and other partners accountable for delivering on UHC commitments, ensuring that policies align with the principles of social justice. By giving communities a stake in their health systems, we can build trust, encourage early health-seeking behaviour, and reduce the reliance on curative care. Moreover, African governments must address inefficiencies and corruption, optimising the use of limited resources. By embracing digital technology and artificial intelligence, we can improve health data systems, enhance service delivery, and target interventions more effectively noting technology must be deployed at the community level, not just in hospitals, to enhance equitable access, particularly at the last mile. A call to action: Building the health systems of the futureThe curative consumption trap is a legacy of colonial health systems and misaligned global priorities. It is not inevitable. Africa has the opportunity to redefine its health agenda, leveraging its youthful population, rich cultural heritage, and growing technological innovation. But this requires bold leadership and collective action. African governments should prioritise health in national budgets, recognising that health is not a cost but an investment in human capital for socioeconomic development. Donors and global health partners must shift their focus from short-term, disease-specific interventions to long-term health system strengthening in line with the Lusaka Agenda, an effort for all to prioritise strengthening health systems, promoting sustainable health financing and enhancing equity through national level co-ordination. As we approach 2030, the deadline for achieving UHC, we must decide: Do we continue down the path of reactive, costly care with limited returns or do we embrace a model that produces health, dignity, and opportunity for all?The curative trap may be the legacy we inherited, but health production is the legacy we must build. © Copyright 2022 Nation Media Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Indians buy 14 million ACs a year, and need many more
Aarti Verma is about to join the growing ranks of Indians installing air conditioning, scraping together savings to secure relief from sometimes deadly temperatures that can reach nearly 50 Celsius. A record 14 million AC units were sold in India last year, with a ninefold increase in residential ownership forecast by mid-century. That will give millions safer and more comfortable conditions at work and home. But it will also drive demand for electricity that is generated mostly by burning climate-warming coal, and increase the hot AC exhaust air expelled into the country's stifling streets. For Verma, the priority is securing some immediate relief. Her sales and marketing work means she must visit multiple stores a day, battling blazing heat. "Coming home after a long day I want some comfort," said the 25-year-old, who earns 30,000 rupees ($350) a month and will pay 50,000 rupees ($584) to install air conditioning in her spartan two-room home. "Earlier I would sleep on the terrace, but these days it's so hot even in the night, AC has become a necessity," she told AFP in a poor neighbourhood of the capital Delhi. India is the world's fastest-growing AC market, despite only about seven percent of households currently owning units. The boom could mean the world's most populous country needs to triple electricity production to meet demand, experts say. The nation of 1.4 billion people is already the world's third-biggest producer of climate-warming greenhouse gases, burning through one billion tonnes of coal in 2024-25, according to a government statement. - Brutal summer - "AC penetration across India is primarily driven by weather conditions, a growing middle class, favourable consumer financing options and widespread electrification," said K.J. Jawa,the India chief of Japanese AC manufacturer Daikin. "Today, ACs are no longer regarded as a luxury indulgence, but a productivity and need investment –- as a good night sleep is imperative for our mental and physical wellness," he told AFP. Verma had to pay 13,000 rupees ($150) as a down payment, with the rest divided over monthly instalments. "I could have bought gold with that money which would have been a good investment but I gave priority to the AC," she said. According to the meteorological department, 2024 was India's hottest year since thorough records began in 1901, with sizzling temperatures following a global pattern of extreme weather driven by climate change. A heatwave in May 2024 in New Delhi saw temperatures match the capital's previous record high: 49.2 Celsius (120.5 Fahrenheit) clocked in 2022. The brutal summer heat can melt tarmac on the roads and puts millions of people at risk, with nearly 11,000 people dying due to heat stroke in India between 2012 and 2021, according to government data. Public health experts say the true number of heat-related deaths is likely in the thousands but because heat is often not listed as a reason on a death certificate, many casualties don't get counted in official figures. Ironically, the refrigerants inside AC units and the coal-generated electricity that powers them only exacerbate global warming. Widespread AC use also raises outdoor temperatures by expelling indoor heat. Studies -- including by the World Health Organization and UN-Habitat -- show that the heat-generating motors inside AC units can themselves push up temperatures in urban areas by a degree Celsius or more. - Energy ratings - Before buying an AC, Verma relied on a traditional air cooler -- a noisy fan-run device that blows cool air off water-soaked pads. But filling the cooler with water and making sure it did not become a haven for disease-carrying mosquitoes required great effort. Sales are brisk at Imperial Refrigeration in Delhi's old quarters, with a steady stream of customers braving the afternoon heat. Japsahib Singh Ahuja, 22, whose family owns the 50-year-old business, said sales have more than tripled in the last five years, thanks to first-time consumers and AC "replacement cycles". "ACs these days don't last long, because there are so many pollutants in Delhi air that lead to corrosion and gas leakage from the equipment," he explained. Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area, home to more than 30 million people, consistently top world rankings for air pollution. Air conditioning will account for a quarter of India's emissions and nearly half nationwide peak electricity demand by 2050, according to the UN Environment Programme's Cool Coalition. But India has so far declined to sign up to the coalition's Global Cooling Pledge to reduce the sector's climate impact. Still, there are signs of hope, with Indians increasingly buying energy-efficient AC units, according to Ahuja. Energy-saving inverter ACs now dominate the market, and companies set a default temperature of 24 degrees Celsius. "Energy ratings are now mandatory," said Ahuja. "We will surely see long-term benefits." abh/pjm/sah/stu
