India’s green house emissions at 1.9 billion tonnes

India's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions grew 58 per cent between 1994 and 2007 to 1.9 billion tonnes, driven by growing energy and transportation sectors. India now ranks fifth in aggregate GHG emissions behind the US, China, European Union and Russia.
The GHGs consists of gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emitted from anthropogenic activities from sectors such as energy, industry, agriculture and waste lands.
The Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh along with the Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, released the ‘India Greenhouse Emissions-2007’ report in New Delhi on Tuesday.
On a compounded annual basis, the country's GHG emissions grew at 3.3 per cent for the period, according to the latest emissions inventory data generated by the Indian Network of Climate Change Assessment (INCCA).
However, the country's emission intensity – the ratio of GHG emissions produced to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – declined by 30 per cent in the same period.
“This is due to the Government's efforts and policies that we are proactively putting in place. This is the trend we intend to continue,” said the Environment Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, releasing the ‘India: Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2007' report.
India has already announced its intention to reduce its emission intensity of the GDP by 20-25 per cent by 2020, while pursuing inclusive growth.
Notwithstanding the growth in its total emissions, the per capita emission of India was much lower than that of US and Europe.
India's per capita carbon dioxide emission was estimated at 1.7 tonnes in 2007 as against 1.4 tonne in 1994. The US leads the world with the highest per capita emission of 20 tonnes, followed by Europe at 12 tonnes per capita while China has a 4 tonne per capita.
By announcing the latest emission data, India became the first developing country to publish such updated numbers.
“We are not bound by any international obligation. Many of our domestic climate actions have to be taken voluntarily in our own interest,” Mr Ramesh said.
Sector-wise
Emissions from the electricity (power) sector for the 1994-2007 period grew at 5.6 per cent CAGR to 719.30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent accounting for 37.8 per cent of the total GHG emissions. Transport sector emissions grew 4.5 per cent to 142 million tonnes, followed by the residential buildings at 137.84 million tonnes. GHG emissions from cement sector grew at a CAGR of 6 per cent accounting for 6.8 per cent of total emissions.
“We should benchmark our specific emission for 2007 with other best practices in the rest of the world,” Mr Ramesh said stating strong domestic actions strengthen the country's negotiating positions.
INCAA expects to bring out another assessment report in November on the impact of climate change on four sectors including agriculture, water, forests and health in four climatic hot spots of the Himalayas, Coastal India, Western Ghats