Establishing an insetting scheme in Pakistan to provide affordable renewable energy to communities of rural cotton pickers in extreme poverty with the support of fashion brands.

The Cotton Inset Scheme is a collaboration between UK-based energy management company, Pilio and Pakistan-based sustainable solutions company, HIMA^Verte.

This feasibility project tests affordable, renewable energy solutions in some of the poorest cotton producing communities in Pakistan: Punjab and Sindh. Manual cotton activities, like cotton picking and seed planting, are primarily conducted by women. The work is low-paid and unstable.

These communities have very limited access to electricity via grid solutions. Where the infrastructure does exist, outages are common, lasting up to 16 hours per day. Off grid solutions will provide cotton farming communities a consistent, reliable and affordable source of electricity.

The Cotton Inset Scheme is a new business model that improves the sustainability, resilience and long-term viability of the global supply chain. The CIS is a mechanism for global fashion brands to reinvest in the welfare and energy access of farmers in their own supply chain. Evolving the carbon offset model, the CIS manages investment into energy infrastructure. The relevance of the CIS is that brands are reinvesting in activities that protect their business.

In this feasibility study we will trial off-grid solutions, including solar home systems, refrigeration-as-a-service and other products like PV fans and kettles. We will build a network of Clean Energy Dhaba's (village hubs) that provide a localised source of knowledge on renewable energy and access to efficient appliances in villages across rural Pakistan via micro-enterprises.

The outcome will be a feasibility assessment of the viability of the CIS at scale, and a roadmap for growth in the fashion sector.