IURC partners advance Circular Carbon Economy cooperation during Chennai mission

Chennai, India | 17–18 September 2026

IURC partners from India and Germany came together in Chennai for a two-day cooperation mission under the IURC Asia & Australasia Community of Practice on Circular Carbon Economy (CoP6), moving from knowledge exchange towards concrete technical cooperation.

The mission brought together representatives from Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), Jabalpur Municipal Corporation, Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science (HITS), the City of Trier, Trier University of Applied Sciences (TUAS), and IURC Asia & Australasia.

On 17 September, the partners met at the HITS campus, where Ashish Verma, IURC Country Coordinator – India / CoP Coordinator, provided an overview of IURC activities and progress under CoP6. The session reviewed previous online exchanges, preparation of the CoP6 roadmap and information shared by the participating partners ahead of the mission. Discussions focused on identifying common challenges and developing concrete areas for cooperation.

HITS presented its longstanding engagement with IURC, including previous study visits and technical exchanges with Trier. One tangible result of this cooperation is the biogas pilot implemented at the HITS campus, where the biogas produced is currently used in the hostel canteen.

GCC presented Chennai’s solid waste management value chain and its ongoing efforts to strengthen processing capacity and reduce waste going to landfill. Jabalpur Municipal Corporation presented several circular-economy initiatives, including Bio-CNG, Reduce-Reuse-Recycle (RRR) centres and Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs).

The exchanges demonstrated considerable overlap between the priorities of Chennai and Jabalpur and highlighted opportunities for both India–Europe cooperation and direct peer learning between Indian cities.

From knowledge exchange to a concrete cooperation initiative

A key outcome of the workshop was an agreement to explore a comparative biogas quality and upgrading initiative involving Chennai, Jabalpur and Trier.

With inputs from the City of Trier and Felix Bentgens from Trier University of Applied Sciences (TUAS), partners discussed comparing relevant characteristics of biogas generated at facilities in Chennai and Jabalpur with experience and expertise from Trier. The cooperation would explore whether further purification or upgrading could improve gas quality and utilisation and identify relevant practices that could be transferred between the participating cities.

All partners expressed their interest in taking the concept forward through further technical exchange and data sharing.

The programme at HITS also included technical visits to the existing biogas plant, sewage treatment plant (STP) and the proposed new STP, enabling partners to discuss resource recovery and potential improvements directly at facility level.

On 18 September, IURC representatives met with senior officials from Greater Chennai Corporation, including officials responsible for solid waste management, to discuss CoP6 activities and opportunities for continued cooperation. The possibility of GCC participating in a future exposure and technical exchange visit to Trier was also discussed.

The mission concluded with a visit to a 100 TPD Bio-CNG facility in Chennai, providing a practical opportunity to understand organic-waste processing, anaerobic digestion, gas production and upgrading. The visit also provided an important reference case for the proposed biogas cooperation between Chennai, Jabalpur and Trier.

The Chennai mission represents another step in the evolution of IURC CoP6:

Knowledge Exchange → Technical Cooperation → Joint Action → Implementation

The partners will now work towards translating the discussions into a practical technical workplan, including data exchange, technical inputs and follow-up cooperation between Chennai, Jabalpur and Trier.