Project Leader: Dr. Rajat Kathuria and Dr. Saon Ray
Research Team:
July 2014
Commencement: July 2014
Completion: March 2015
Funded by: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK
The world energy consumption is expected to grow by 56% between 2010 and 2040. Much of the growth in the energy consumption is expected from the countries like China and India and will be driven by strong long-term economic growth in these countries. China and India have been among the world’s fastest growing economies for the past two decades, and the economic recovery from the recession has been led by these countries. The strong economic growth in the two countries is expected to proportionately increase their energy demand. Since 1990, energy consumption in both countries accounted for 10% of the total world energy consumption in 1990 and 24% in 2010.
The pathways taken by the two countries in the future will determine the total energy consumption in the world and the carbon dioxide emissions. These in turn depend on the demand ‘supply balance of fuels like oil, coal, renewables etc. and the price of each. India is the sixth largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. In this context, the proposed project will present evidence on the Indian case and the outcome of each possible pathway that could be taken by the country. It will provide an analysis of the realistic low carbon pathway that India could achieve while pursuing its development goals. This will help in visualising a credible low carbon pathway for India.
The report prepared will have the following components:
- Low carbon pathways and peaking years that helps Indian policymakers to take an informed decision
- Cost of action of mitigation versus the cost of inaction (climate impacts) for India
- Key factors that influence existing models and dissemination across key stakeholders
