India has a rich heritage of livestock rearing and has been the world’s largest producer of gobar (bovine manure) for decades. Today, India has approximately 300 million bovine animals, possibly the highest in the world, that produce nearly 1 billion tonnes of dung. Modern anaerobic bio-digester technologies have the potential to unlock the immense economic opportunity of gobar in the form of biogas and organic manure.

Through its ‘waste-to-energy’ focus, Sustain Plus aims to scale up and mainstream biogas and organic manure production to enable a 100% transition towards clean cooking in rural homes and to support agriculture practices that enhance productivity, soil health, and resource utilisation.

Recent developments in bio-digester and slurry processing technologies have led to the re-emergence of the biogas sector, offering a range of modular solutions and enterprise opportunities. While the benefits of an efficient and drudgery-free clean cooking fuel at zero operational cost are already visible across households, there is also an added focus on leveraging and monetising the slurry and organic manure value chains. Herein lies a significant opportunity to tap into and maximise the potential of this abundantly available resource in India and enable economic, social and positive environmental impact.