India has always been a country of dichotomies.
It is the world’s most populous nation, fifth biggest economy and home to the highest number of billionaires after China and the U.S. It is a world leader in digital finance, thanks to the creation of digital public infrastructure, and is the world’s third-largest start-up hub.
Yet it remains a lower-middle-income economy, with a large share of the population classified as low-income or poor, and is a highly unequal society.
India’s climate narrative is, similarly, marked by contradictions.
While its contribution to world cumulative emissions is negligible — India accounts for approximately 4% of the global stock of emissions in the atmosphere — and it is one of the lowest emitters on a per-capita basis, India is already the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses on an annual basis, and is, worryingly, home to 12 of the world’s 15 most polluted cities.
‘Greening’ of the power sector
India needs to act not only for the world to achieve the Paris Agreement ambitions, but also for its own survival.
More than 75% of Indian districts are at risk of extreme weather and it is already seeing fiercer cyclones, greater incidences of drought and flooding and more heatwaves. While these climatic changes will impact worker productivity and economic output in aggregate, they will disproportionately impact vulnerable communities and farmers — 60% of which are monsoon-dependent.
While India needs to decarbonize its entire economy, achieving its target of net-zero emissions by 2070 arguably hinges on the “greening” of its power sector.
With a 34% share, India’s power industry constitutes the single biggest source of emissions in India, and its grid ranks as the fourth most carbon-intensive in the world. Coal still accounts for almost 50% of installed power capacity, and more than 70% of power generation.
With greater power demand expected from consumers, as well as existing and emerging areas of industry, in the near future, and the ongoing electrification of the economy also putting greater pressure on the grid, emissions from power will continue to rise if left unabated.
