The World Bank has announced it has approved $300 million (£225m) of funding to help scale up India’s national energy efficiency programme.

The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) organisation will use the money to drive the deployment of energy saving measures in both the residential and public sectors and enhance access to commercial financing.

It hopes improving efficiency and cutting consumption will help the country hit its goal of reducing carbon intensity by up to 35% by 2030 from 2005 levels.

The investments under the programme are expected to avoid 170 million tons of carbon dioxide being emitted and stop an estimated 10GW of additional generation capacity needing to be built.

The money will be used to create sustainable markets for LED lights and energy efficient ceiling fans, facilitate investments in public street lighting and develop sustainable business models for emerging markets such as efficient air conditioning and agricultural water pumping units.