Are we ready for India’s Second Green Revolution?

What is the potential pathway for India to achieve economic growth while minimizing the negative impacts of climate change?

India can achieve economic growth while minimizing the negative impacts of climate change by shifting from a carbon-intensive growth model to a green growth-led one. India’s second Green Revolution can help shift the country’s economy into a modern industrial system with low or no emissions technologies.

To achieve this green transformation, India needs to address emissions from five sectors that contribute to almost all its GHG emissions: transforming the energy sector, decarbonising the mobility sector, addressing emissions from the industrial sector, evolving a sustainable agriculture sector, and greening buildings, infrastructure, and cities.

Energy sector

The energy sector is responsible for about 40% of India’s GHG emissions, with coal being the dominant source of total fossil CO2 emissions. Decarbonising the energy sector is a priority, which requires replacing fossil fuels with renewables, enhancing efficiencies, and removing unavoidable carbon emissions through carbon sequestration.

Mobility sector

The mobility or transportation sector heavily relies on oil and contributes to almost half of India’s oil demand. A green transformation of mobility would require a shift in modal mix from road to rail, a broad-based fuel diversification approach to encourage sustainable fuels, electrification in the medium term, and hydrogen-based heavy mobility in the long term.

Manufacturing sector

The manufacturing sector is a key contributor to India’s GHG emissions, with the iron & steel, cement, and chemical & fertilizer sectors having the highest CO2 footprint. Decarbonizing these sectors will require demand management measures such as circular economy acceleration, energy efficiency improvements, electrification of heat, carbon capture, utilization, and storage, low-carbon fuels such as biomass and hydrogen, and innovative technologies with non-fossil feedstock.

Agriculture sector

The agriculture sector is the largest contributor to nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane emissions. To reduce agriculture emissions, India will need a national campaign to empower, educate and enable more than a hundred million farmers in adopting precision agriculture, sustainable animal husbandry, and green energy.

Buildings, infrastructure, and cities

India’s top 25 cities contribute more than 15% of its estimated GHG emissions. The transition to greener cities, buildings, and infrastructure will require a rethink of the country’s approach to urban planning with a focus on green and sustainable practices, such as energy-efficient buildings, electric public transportation, green spaces, and waste management.

India’s unique opportunity to leapfrog its journey to higher consumption levels through low or no emissions technologies

The country needs to replace fossil fuels with renewables, reduce fossil CO2 emissions from legacy infrastructure through enhanced efficiencies, and remove unavoidable carbon emissions through carbon sequestration.

To achieve a green transformation in the industrial sector, demand management measures such as circular economy acceleration, continued energy efficiency improvements, electrification of heat, carbon capture, utilization, and storage, low-carbon fuels, and innovative technologies with non-fossil feedstock are necessary. For sustainable agriculture, a national campaign is needed to empower, educate, and enable farmers in adopting precision agriculture, sustainable animal husbandry, and green energy. To transition to greener cities, India needs a rethink of its approach to urban planning, focusing on energy-efficient buildings and infrastructure, public transport, and non-motorized modes of transport.

What do you think?

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