CO2 emission in India: trends and management at sectoral, sub-regional and plant levels

The paper estimates the Indian carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions over the last two decades at sectoral and sub-regional levels to identify hotspots of CO2 emissions, providing possible insights for focused carbon mitigation efforts pan-India. The CO2 emissions are also estimated at the level of 1151 large point sources to identify hotspots for mitigation and also to demonstrate future possibilities for CO2 storage in nearby geological sinks. India's CO2 emission grew at around 5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between the years 1990 and 2013. From the 1897 Mt of CO2 emission electricity generation, transport and iron & steel industry contributed 48%, 11.6% and 7.9% respectively. Districts of Kachchh, Sonbhadra and Korba were the largest CO2 emitters, mainly due to the location of coal-based mega power projects. The district-level emissions estimates show a flattening of the distribution curve of CO2 emissions over the years, indicating that more districts are now crowding up the higher emission space, partly driven by income effects. Our estimate of CO2 emission intensity of the Indian economy shows 11% decoupling of growth of emissions and gross domestic product during 2005-2013, 2005 being the base year for India under the Paris climate change agreement.