At a crossroads: India's per capita emission increases 36% since 2011

India’s per person emissions have gone up by 36 per cent since 2011, according to an analysis from the Global Carbon Project compiled by World Resources Institute. 

A United Nations report on Monday also warned of irreversible climate change. The per capita figure rose from 1.42 tCO2e (tonne carbon dioxide equivalent) in 2011 to 1.94 tCO2e in 2021. 

The latest figure is nearly 8 times the level of 1960. The number is still lower than the global figure of 4.74 tCO2e. The government has stated that energy consumption remains below what is required to meet the human development index (HDI) goals. 

The emissions are more than four times higher in China (8.12 tCO2e) and Japan (8.49 tCO2e), and more than seven times than the US (15.09 tCO2e). India has amongst the lowest annual per capita emissions among key economies. 

This is also true of the historical burden of emissions. India accounted for 3.8 per cent of the global emissions since records are available. China is at 17 per cent. The US tops the list with 21.2 per cent emissions.