India has decoupled economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions: Survey

India has successfully reduced the emission intensity of its GDP, the Survey said

India has managed to keep its rate of carbon emissions growth lower than its gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate, effectively decoupling its economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions, the Economic Survey 2023-24 released on Monday said.

"The plethora of cross-sectoral measures taken in the economy and the several schemes to modify consumer and producer behaviour and promote energy saving have resulted in India’s total national emissions, including Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF), increasing by 4.56 per cent since 2016," the survey said.

This compares favourably with the growth experienced by the country. Interestingly, India’s GDP between 2005 and 2019 has grown with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about seven per cent, whereas the emissions grew at a CAGR of about four per cent, it pointed out.

The survey noted a recent report by the International Finance Corporation which recognises India’s efforts to achieve committed climate actions. It highlights that India is the only G20 nation in line with two-degree centigrade warming.

Last year, the government said India has successfully reduced the emission intensity vis-à-vis its GDP by 33 per cent between 2005 and 2019, thus achieving the initial nationally determined contribution (NDC) target for 2030, 11 years ahead of the scheduled time.

"Notably, these outcomes have been achieved primarily through domestic resources, which have predominantly formed the basis of India’s climate action. Given the financing needs, estimated at $2.5 trillion (at 2014-15 prices) for meeting the NDC targets till 2030, access to finance and technology at a reasonable cost is needed," it said.

This includes contributions from developed countries, as mandated by existing global agreements on climate change such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Meanwhile, India is on track to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3.0 billion tonnes through tree and forest cover by 2030, with a carbon sink of 1.97 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent having already been created from 2005 to 2019, the survey said.

The addition to the installed solar power capacity was 15.03 GW in 2023-24, reaching a cumulative of 82.64 GW as of April 30.

It also added that the share of non-fossil sources in the installed electricity generation capacity has reached 45.4 per cent as of May-end.