Carbon efficiency and sustainable environment in India: impacts of structural change, renewable energy consumption, fossil fuel efficiency, urbanization, and technological innovation

Minimizing carbon pollution and fossil fuels is among the most crucial issues in the sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, global environmental concerns have increased since India did not sign the global coal pledge at COP 26. It is therefore a question mark how India will achieve the 2070 carbon-free target with the increasing use of coal and oil. In this contenxt, this work examines the impact of fossil fuel efficiency, structural change, renewable energy consumption, technological innovation, and urbanization on carbon efficiency in India from 1980 to 2019. Employing the dynamic autoregressive distributed lag approach; the study reveals that fossil fuel efficiency, structural change, renewable energy, and technological innovation improve carbon efficiency, while urbanization worsens environmental quality. Based on the study's findings, the Indian government should invest more and incentivize technological innovation that supports fossil fuel efficiency and renewable energy deployment to achieve the SDGs.

Automated summary

Minimizing carbon pollution and fossil fuels is crucial for sustainable development, but India's refusal to sign the global coal pledge has raised global environmental concerns. It is uncertain how India will achieve the 2070 carbon-free target with increasing coal and oil usage. This study examines the impact of fossil fuel efficiency, structural change, renewable energy consumption, technological innovation, and urbanization on carbon efficiency in India. The findings suggest that improving fossil fuel efficiency, structural change, renewable energy, and technological innovation can enhance carbon efficiency, while urbanization worsens environmental quality. The Indian government should invest in and incentivize technological innovation to support fossil fuel efficiency and renewable energy deployment.