Fall in India’s CO2 Emissions

• 06 Nov 2019

Why in News

According to an analysis published in ‘Carbon Brief’, Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in India are set to grow at their slowest in the year 2019, which is a rise of only 2% from the year 2018. The 2% rate is a lower rate than any annual increase since 2001.

• As per the International Energy Emissions Agency, 2018 report:
  
  • India’s per capita emissions were about 40% of the global average.
  • The emissions contributed 7% to the global carbon dioxide burden.
  • U.S., one of the largest emitters, contributed 14%.
• Carbon Brief is a site that tracks emission and carbon dioxide trends.

Reasons

• Economic slowdown in the country.
  
  • Oil demand growth slowed to 2.6% in the first eight months of 2019, compared with 4.6% in 2018, and 5% on average over the past 10 years.
  • Use of petcoke (an oil refining byproduct) continues to fall after an import ban was put in place.
    
    • India banned the import of petcoke for use as a fuel in 2018.
    • Thus, import of petcoke is allowed for only cement, lime kiln, calcium carbide and gasification industries, when used as the feedstock or in the manufacturing process.
  • Demand for naphtha – a lighter fraction of refined crude oil used in the chemical industry – fell too, likely due to slower growth in petrochemicals.
• Slowdown in the expansion of coal-fired electricity generation and surge in renewable power generation.
  
  • Due to rapid growth in renewable generation, the share of coal in meeting the electricity demand has decreased.
  • In the first six months of 2019, wind, solar and hydro met 70% of the increase in electricity demand.

Benefits

• This fall will help India in achieving its renewable energy targets.
  
  • The targets of India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) include:
    
    • To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35% by 2030 from 2005 levels.
    • To achieve about 40% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030.
• Slower growth in coal-based power generation will benefit the country’s air quality efforts, as essentially all coal-fired power plants in India lack pollution controls which are necessary in countries like China and the European Union.

Source: TH