About The Program

Eco-Cities India is a multi-year technical advisory program, established under the EU-India Cooperation on Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency. A climate-change focused initiative, the program is structured around five cities—Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, and the Mumbai and Pune metropolitan regions. The program is designed to assist government and civil society in meeting efficiency targets, such as the Nationally Determined Contributions—the pledged reductions in emissions levels and increased focus on climate-resilient development.

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Why Focus On Cities ?

50
percent

of India’s population will be urban by the year 2050

404 million

more people will be living in Indian cities by the year 2050

35
percent

of the total energy in India is attributable to buildings

76
cities

in India exceed the acceptable limits of air pollution parameters

1000
percent

increase in India’s carbon emissions since 1971

Key Sectors

Eco-Cities India has focused its efforts on four key urban sectors that, taken together, are significant contributors to emissions and the resultant effects on the environment. These are Urban Transport, Green Buildings, Water &Solid Waste Management, and Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. Interventions take many forms, including the development of policy incentives and business initiatives designed to help businesses transition to carbon neutral sources of power, certification standards for eco-friendly construction, as well as city-wide energy mapping and greenhouse gas inventories.

Urban
Transport
Green
Buildings
Water & Solid Waste Management
Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy

What Our Partners Say

Thane is taking credible and concrete steps in moving towards a future of sustainable mobility. Institutions such as the IFC are offering valuable help to the Thane Municipal Corporation to facilitate the setting up of charging infrastructure for faster adoption of electric vehicles.

Sameer Unhale, Additional Commissioner, Thane Municipal Corporation

Hero Electric’s technical expertise and IFC’s vast global experience together will help tackle problem of pollution and climate change in India by facilitating adoption of Electric Vehicles. We are looking forward to our partnership with IFC-EU Eco-Cities program to support Indian cities in its goal of driving sustainable mobility solutions in the near future.

Naveen Munjal, Managing Director, Hero Electric

We will be encouraged to switch to electric rickshaws if public charging infrastructure is available to us as suggested under the IFC Eco-cities program.

Padman Kumar Samal, General Secretary, Bhubaneswar Auto Union

We appreciate the IFC Eco-Cities Program in driving the initiative in climate change mitigation and fostering electric mobility. Jangid Motors can leverage its experience in manufacturing, distribution, and operations in electric three-wheelers. This will not only foster the entire ecosystem but also complement the public transportation system in the chosen cities under the Program.

 Mohit S. Jangid, Founder Director, Jangid Motors

We will have to take certain ambitious policy decisions, taking the developers, architects and stakeholders into confidence. We will also need to create awareness among people to make their buildings green through simple measures. The policy will help reduce the use of water, electricity and manage solid waste.

 Sandeep Malvi, Public Relations Officer, Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC)   

Adoption of technology must focus on green energy, savings of affordable housings offers a significant opportunity for green housing

Shri S. Krishnan, IAS, Principal Secretary to Government of Tamil Nadu, 
Housing and Urban Development Department

I am happy to support IFC to solve the E-Waste problems that improve the situations of the informal sector. A proper implementation of E-Waste legislation will create a market of 3 billion dollars and more than 300,000 shops in India.

Dr. Kopacek, E-Waste Sector Specialist IFC

Clean e-Bhubaneswar is a unique initiative at demonstrating the urge of reimagining E-Waste as a resource. It has set an extraordinary example of public-private partnerships to make the city free from the hazards of E-Waste.

 Biswajit Nayak, Regional Manager, Infosys, Bhubaneswar 

The Clean e-Bhubaneswar initiative gave us a rare opportunity to learn about E-Waste and its responsible management. I look forward to having more such awareness programs.

Dr. B. N. Biswal, Principal, Bhubaneswar Engineering College

We are looking forward to a successful partnership with IFC-EU Eco-Cities Program to support Indian cities in their goal of driving sustainable mobility solutions in the near future.

Naveen Munjal, Managing Director, Hero Electric

India's Sustainable Housing Leadership Consortium making impact! Policies & technologies identified, one state's green incentive policy helped, consumer feedback taken! Time to enable 100% green buildings! 

Sameer Unhale, Thane Additional Commissioner

Odisha Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority

Odisha’s urban population has been growing rapidly and the rise in urbanization has led to an emergence of many urban growth centres across the state. Areas like Cuttack, Jatni, Khurda Town, Chowdwar, Barang and Puri (together termed as Bhubaneswar urban mobility area) have formed a large urban agglomeration hub. The rise in urban activities coupled with the rise in economic activities have generated greater travel demand across this region.

Electric Buses for Bengaluru

Fifty two percent of Bengaluru’s trip share is composed of private transportation. This project is therefore focused on creating an eco-friendly public transport system by introducing electric buses. The project will ensure a 30 percent reduction in CO2 emission (14,879 tonnes/day) by 2021 vis-à-vis a business-as-usual scenario (21,255 tonnes/day).

Stakeholders in this project include Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), bus manufacturers, battery manufacturers, and utility and private operators.

Developing Sustainable Electric Mobility Solutions in Thane

Seventy-five percent of Thane’s trip share is composed of two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws, which degrades the city’s air quality. Eco-Cities India is collaborating with the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) to accelerate a shift toward the adoption of e-vehicles for commuters. Through this project, a 43 percent reduction in CO2 emission (3,981 tonnes/day) is expected in 2021 vis-à-vis a business-as-usual scenario (5,687 tonnes/day).

Fostering EV Ecosystem in Bhubaneswar

Eighty-one percent of Bhubaneswar’s public transport trip share is dominated by diesel-run auto-rickshaws, which are responsible for notable carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. To improve the city’s air quality, the government wants to introduce electric three-wheelers. Eco-Cities India Program is collaborating with Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) in achieving this goal. The project is expected to result in 30 percent reduction in CO2 emission (1,349 tonnes/day) by 2021 vis-à-vis a business-as-usual scenario (1,928 tonnes/day).

Workshop- Financing of EE projects in Indian MSMEs

A workshop was conducted to discuss the findings of a feasibility study on financing opportunities for energy efficiency technologies among SMEs in targeted cities.

Key areas of discussion included the importance of showcasing energy efficiency/renewable energy business cases for FIs. The technical trainings being conducted for FI/ MSMEs were also discussed. The workshop was attended by SIDBI, HDFC, Canara Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, IDBI Bank, Yes Bank, among others.

Maharashtra Energy Development Agency Project

Maharashtra enjoys 250-300 days of clear sun with an average radiation of 4.5 to 5.5 kWh/square metre over a day, and holds the capacity to generate 1.5 million unit/MW year through grid-connected rooftop solar PV systems. To make optimum use of this energy, Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (MEDA) will implement 4700 MW-capacity rooftop solar projects by the year 2022. The MEDA will execute the projects in Thane, Pune, Pimpri, and an area in Mumbai with support from the Eco-Cities India Program.

Site visit to the IIT Tirupati Campus

As a part of the activities planned to encourage developers to scale up Green Affordable Housing and in order to evaluate relevant technologies and develop a pilot for scale up, a site visit was led by the IFC Green Buildings team, IIT Madras and Saint Gobain to the IIT Tirupati campus with participation from the Sustainable Housing Leadership Consortium (SHLC) members.

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