Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in India

This 2009 report by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) analyzes financial mechanisms and opportunities for collaboration between the European Union and India to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It evaluates the limitations of existing UNFCCC mechanisms, identifies sectoral barriers to low-carbon transitions, and proposes specific initiatives in solar energy, energy efficiency, and black carbon reduction to align EU climate goals with India's development priorities.

• India is a major global emitter, ranking fourth overall and contributing approximately 5.5 per cent of global emissions, though its per capita emissions (1.7 tCO2) remain very low compared to the world average of 5.8 tCO2.
• The energy sector is the primary driver of India's emissions; in 1994, it accounted for 61 per cent of total CO2e emissions, with electricity supply providing nearly half of that amount.
• Reducing 'black carbon' (soot) from the non-commercial energy sector, specifically through clean cooking stoves, offers immediate regional climate benefits and addresses severe health issues, including an estimated 400,000 annual deaths in India from indoor smoke.
• India's National Solar Mission has set an ambitious target of 20,000 MW of installed solar capacity by 2020, but achieving this requires overcoming high initial capital costs and intellectual property rights (IPR) barriers.
• Existing UNFCCC mechanisms, such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Global Environment Facility (GEF), are considered inadequate in scale to catalyze the transformative energy changes needed in India.
• The CDM in India is criticized for failing to foster significant technology transfer, with only 16 per cent of projects involving technology transfer compared to 36 per cent globally.
• Financial barriers to low-carbon transitions in India include high upfront capital costs for technologies like supercritical coal plants and energy efficiency projects, as well as lower economic returns for solar energy compared to fossil fuels.
• Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) face significant barriers to energy efficiency due to high transaction costs for CDM and a lack of Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) to provide financing and technical expertise.
• The EU and India hold divergent views on climate finance: the EU emphasizes a liquid carbon market and sectoral approaches, while India prioritizes 'new, additional, adequate and predictable' grant-based finance through the UNFCCC.
• The report recommends that the EU re-frame its climate discussions with India as 'sustainable development' and 'energy security' to better align with India's domestic priorities and encourage collaboration.

APA

Atteridge, A., Axberg, G. N., Goel, N., Kumar, A., Lazarus, M., Ostwald, M., Polycarp, C., Tollefsen, P., Torvanger, A., Upadhyaya, P., & Zetterberg, L. (2009). Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in India. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate-mitigation-adaptation/reducinggreenhousegasemissions-india.pdf

Chicago

Atteridge, Aaron, Göran Nilsson Axberg, Nitu Goel, Atul Kumar, Michael Lazarus, Madelene Ostwald, Clifford Polycarp, et al. Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in India. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2009. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate-mitigation-adaptation/reducinggreenhousegasemissions-india.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{atteridge2009reducing, author = {Atteridge, Aaron and Axberg, Göran Nilsson and Goel, Nitu and Kumar, Atul and Lazarus, Michael and Ostwald, Madelene and Polycarp, Clifford and Tollefsen, Petter and Torvanger, Asbjørn and Upadhyaya, Prabhat and Zetterberg, Lars}, title = {{Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in India}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2009}, month = oct, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate-mitigation-adaptation/reducinggreenhousegasemissions-india.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }