India’s current electric power systems are highly dependent on carbon-intensive fossil fuels, mainly lignite and coal, as the country continues to face rapid growth in population and demand for energy. Feeding additional renewable energy to the electricity grids across India is therefore crucial to mitigate energy related emissions and reduce air pollution emitted by fossil fuel power plants. With a total installed capacity of 49.5 MW this wind energy project replaces fossil fuel powered power plants and avoids the emission of up to 73,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent annually. Thanks to the project activity, local expertise could be built up for the operation of this state-of the-art wind power project. Monitoring and maintenance of the employed technology can now be carried out by the trained, locally employed staff, adhering to strict emergency and safety procedures.Additional employment in the region was created, both during the construction period as well as the ongoing operations of the project. The project has a current workforce of 38 people working directly for the wind park with annual training provided. This also leads to additional business for stakeholders within the supply chain, including equipment suppliers, O&M contractors, civil work contractors.

The project consists of three individual cascades, each of which uses its own turbines and generators to convert the flow potential of the water into mechanical energy in the first step and then into electrical energy by the generator. The three cascades achieve a maximum power of 20.4 MW. The purpose of the project is to use the existing water of the river without the need to build a separate catchment basin. It will generate 73,950 MWh of electrical energy per year. This is a run-of-river hydroelectric power plant. In selecting the project, care was taken to ensure that it was a small-scale hydropower plant, as this would reduce the risk of ecological adverse impacts.

Despite considerable efforts made by the Chinese government, poverty remains a prevailing issue in many rural areas of China. The majority of the population is employed in the agricultural sector. Produce is often only sold in local villages, and areas with commercially used agriculture have to struggle with falling prices due to the excess supply, combined with the loss of income for the producers. A great proportion of the low-income and rural households in China still use open wood and coal ovens to heat the house and to cook. The resulting gases and soot is not only harmful to the environment but can cause serious health issues, especially for women and children who spend more time within the house. The “Sichuan household biogas program” supports low-income, smallholder farmers in the Sichuan province by providing them with biogas plants and cooking stoves. The biogas plants are distributed to any small farmer with livestock, which they use to collect and store the livestock manure. The resulting methane gas emissions that are produced can thereby be captured and redirected into being used as a renewable energy source. This does not only offer a hygienic solution for the disposal of the manure but enables the use of clean energy in rural households, thus saving fuel costs and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. The biomass by-product can be used in the fields as a replacement for pesticides or any other chemical fertilizer.

More than half of all rural communities in Sierra Leone have no access to an improved water source and have to rely on unprotected water sources such as rivers or swamps. Even if improved sources are available, an estimated 95% of them are contaminated by diseases like E-coli. To purify this contaminated water and avoid becoming sick, affected households are forced to boil it. To boil the water, mostly women or children have to collect firewood or other burning materials. Not only is this gathering time-consuming and cumbersome: Collecting and burning the materials damages the ecosystem, reduces local biodiversity and releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which further contributes to global warming. Moreover, community members in proximity to the fireplaces are at an elevated risk of contracting smoke-induced health complications. This clean water project in Sierra Leone collaborates closely with a local organisation to restore and maintain boreholes and to assure that proper sanitation practices are followed by the community members. This ensures that boreholes are kept free of contaminants and that clean drinking water is available for the project’s households in the long term.

Between May 2019 and June 2020, this project has rehabilitated 132 boreholes and the water quality for all boreholes is tested on a quarterly basis, which is in accordance with the World Health Organisation’s Standard for Drinking Water. Community trainings that teach the proper behaviour to maintain clean drinking water are repeated annually. Moreover, two community members for each borehole are trained to effectively maintain their respective borehole. This Gold Standard-certified project fulfils the criteria for the following Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-Being, SDG 5 - Gender Equality, SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation as well as SDG 13 - Climate Action.