Ten projects around the world receive US$25,000 each for reducing greenhouse gas emissions or promoting carbon uptake.
Oorja Development Solutions Limited (Oorja) is among the laureates of the prestigious Keeling Curve Prize 2020. Each year, the Keeling Curve Prize awards US$ 25,000 to each of 10 projects across the globe with significant potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or promote carbon uptake.
Oorja has been conferred the Prize this year in the Energy category for its pioneering community solar irrigation service called “Oonnati”, which allows farmers in rural India to transition from diesel to solar pumps. Oorja targets regions where small and marginal farmers rely heavily on diesel-based pumps to irrigate their farmland. Oorja installs community solar pumps and sells affordable and reliable irrigation as a service, removing the barrier for clean energy adoption in low-income communities.
The prize money will enable the company to increase its execution capacity to make a bigger impact in mitigating emissions across the agricultural value chain. Oorja will scale up “Oonnati” and also launch two new integrated solar energy services of agroprocessing and cold storage.
“We are thrilled and humbled to be one of the laureates of the esteemed Keeling Curve Prize 2020. This recognition has bolstered our commitment to accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels in the agriculture sector, while building climate resilience and promoting livelihoods in underserved areas,” said Clementine Chambon, CTO of Oorja.
"The purpose of the Keeling Curve Prize is to bend the Keeling Curve back to a safe level of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which scientists say is a maximum of 350 parts per million. I am confident our Keeling Curve Prize winners can help us get there," said Jacquelyn Francis, Director of the Global Warming Mitigation Project, which runs the annual Keeling Curve Prize competition.
About Oorja
Oorja is a purpose-driven social enterprise working at the intersection of sustainable energy and livelihoods in the agricultural value chain. It provides access to clean, reliable and affordable energy for productive use to power income-generating appliances. Oorja’s current project portfolio consists of 65 kWp of solar assets serving smallholder farmers in Uttar Pradesh and Assam, India. Oorja is backed by the DOEN Foundation, Cisco CSR, Echoing Green, Villgro, Mass Challenge, Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, and Climate-KIC.
About the Keeling Curve Prize
The Keeling Curve Prize awards $250,000 annually to projects that display proven carbon uptake, drawdown, or sequestration efforts. The prize is a program of the Global Warming Mitigation Project, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that is identifying, activating, and accelerating projects and programs worldwide that are reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon uptake. For more information, please visit: https://www.globalwarmingmitigationproject.org/about-kcp