"Low-to-medium temperature process heat represents a tractable near-term decarbonisation opportunity that policy frameworks have underemphasised relative to green hydrogen and carbon capture." Discuss.

Process heat below ~200°C — used in textiles, food processing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and paper — is supplied largely by coal, furnace oil and pet coke boilers, especially in MSMEs, which emitted about 135 MtCO₂e in 2022 [1]. Unlike steel or cement, this band can be decarbonised with technologies already commercial today.

Why it is a tractable near-term opportunity

• Technology is mature: industrial heat pumps deliver 140–160°C commercially and increasingly up to 200°C, with paper, food and chemicals offering the largest near-term potential [2].
• High efficiency: heat pumps upgrade waste heat streams, cutting energy input several-fold against combustion or resistance heating.
• Multiple pathways exist: biomass-based green steam, solar thermal and green electricity are all deployable now; MNRE has released a dedicated roadmap for biomass green steam in MSMEs [3].
• Co-benefits: eliminating boiler combustion removes local SO₂, NOx and particulate emissions, aiding NCAP goals and worker health, while cutting fossil import dependence.

The underemphasis — and its limits

• Policy discourse centres on green hydrogen and carbon capture, which NITI Aayog models as critical for steel, refineries and fertilisers, with hydrogen rising to 42 Mt by 2070 [4]. These target high-temperature, hard-to-abate processes — not the moderate-temperature middle band.
• The neglect is relative, not absolute: NITI Aayog's MSME roadmap already identifies energy-efficient equipment, alternative fuels and green electricity as core levers [1].
• Genuine barriers persist — thin MSME margins, weak green finance access, low awareness, and negligible domestic heat-pump manufacturing.

The statement holds substantially: India's frontier technologies address tomorrow's hardest emissions, while today's most abatable heat demand awaits comparable policy weight. Mainstreaming heat pumps and waste-heat recovery under the PAT scheme, extending concessional SIDBI credit to MSME clusters, and a PLI-type push for domestic heat-pump manufacturing would convert this opportunity into near-term abatement — advancing both the NDC targets and the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.