Rural low-income communities, including smallholder farmers and daily wage laborers.
As of 2024, approximately 63.13% of India’s population resides in rural areas, according to World Bank data compiled from government sources. This accounts for nearly 900 million people living in dispersed villages and small towns across India. Nearly 47% of the population depends on agriculture for livelihood, with many rural households situated in states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and the Northeastern region—areas known for infrastructure and service delivery challenges.
Identifying the Hardest to Reach Climate Target Group
In India, the hardest to reach climate target group primarily consists of rural low-income communities, including smallholder farmers and daily wage laborers. These groups are predominantly characterized by their geographic location in remote villages and tribal areas, limited economic resources, and low literacy levels. The population size is significant, with over 65% of India’s population residing in rural areas, many dependent on agriculture and informal sectors and relying heavily on traditional biomass for cooking and heating, having limited access to clean energy, and are usually outside the direct influence of mainstream climate policies
Why This Group Is Not able to Contribute to Greenhouse Gas Reduction
This group faces substantial barriers in contributing to climate goals. First, they often lack access to clean energy technologies and efficient farming practices due to financial constraints and limited infrastructure. Second, their knowledge and information about climate change and mitigation methods are minimal due to poor educational outreach and communication gaps. Third, purchasing power is low, which prevents adoption of costly but environmentally friendly alternatives such as solar cookers or electric vehicles. These factors combined restrict their ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions despite being vulnerable to climate impacts.
Proposals for Increasing Their Contributions
Proposal 1:Expansion of Affordable Clean Energy Access: Implement Subsidized Solar Energy Solutions for Rural Households
What: Launch government-subsidized programs to provide affordable solar home lighting and cooking systems tailored for rural households. Scale up deployment of low-cost solar energy solutions such as solar cookers, solar lanterns, and mini-grid systems in these rural areas.
Why: Solar energy reduces dependency on polluting biomass and kerosene, thereby cutting GHG emissions and improving health.
Feasibility: The Indian government can leverage existing renewable energy schemes (e.g., PM-KUSUM) to scale this initiative over 1-3 years.
Implementation: Partnership between the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), local panchayats, and NGOs for distribution and maintenance. Subsidies and micro-finance schemes can enhance affordability.
Measurement: Success can be measured by the number of installations, reduction in biomass usage etc. Monitor uptake rates, number of solar units installed, and decreases in biomass usage through surveys and energy consumption data over 1-3 years, and improvements in air quality locally
Proposal 2: Promote Climate-Smart Agriculture Through Capacity Building
What: Provide training and resources on water-efficient irrigation, organic fertilizers, and diversified cropping to smallholder farmers.
Why: This reduces emissions from fertilizer use and water pumps while increasing resilience to climate impacts.
Feasibility: Extension services under the Ministry of Agriculture can integrate these teachings within ongoing farmer outreach programs.
Implementation: Collaborate with state agriculture departments, agricultural universities, and farmer cooperatives.
Measurement: Monitoring adoption rates, reductions in input use, and yield improvements will indicate effectiveness.
Proposal 3: Community Climate Education and Awareness Programs
What: Launch targeted awareness campaigns about climate change impact and sustainable practices through local languages and media.
Why: Enhancing knowledge will empower community members to adopt and advocate for environmentally friendly behaviors.
Implementation: Collaboration among Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), state departments, and community leaders to design culturally relevant materials and workshops.
Measurement: Track attendance and feedback from programs, changes in attitudes towards sustainable practices via surveys within 1-3 years.
Decision-Maker for Implementation
Title: Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy, Government of India
Email: secy-me@mnes.gov.in
This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard India Country Manager, Ankita Pedalkar.