These companies only show the potential. With a bit of effort, industry could be raking in carbon funds before other countries like China and Korea lap them up.
— Abhishek Kapoor

INNOVATION:
TECH EXCHANGE
WHAT is the connection between water pumps in Chhattisgarh villages and flying between two cities in the UK? Each time British citizens heat homes, take a flight or drive the car, CO2, a greenhouse gas, is added to the atmosphere. To offset this, they could pay someone else to reduce the CO2 in the air and balance it out. Climatecare, an NGO, helps British citizens calculate and pay for the damage they cause to the environment. It uses the money to fund transition to a lower-carbon world.

They offer various options from a range of projects in developing countries for introducing renewable energy, improving energy efficiency or for forest restoration.

Chhattisgarh’s treadle pump is one of the several projects listed with them. It is a simple device developed by the International Development Enterprises (India) (IDE-I), a not-for-profit company. It uses human power to pump water from wells, streams and lakes up to the fields.

A study by The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) that profiles existing treadle pump users clearly shows these devices can be used in place of diesel pumps in households. Most farmers have seen their annual income double as a result; for some, it has increased five-fold. Using manual power reduces diesel fuel use by 0.45 litres per hour on average, saving 0.65 tonnes of CO2 per year.

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