Resource detail

An economic slowdown, renewable energy growth and the impact of Covid-19 have led to the first year-on-year reduction in India’s CO2 emissions in four decades. Emissions fell by around 1% in the fiscal year ending March 2020, as coal consumption fell and oil consumption flatlined. The decline in emissions reflects the headwinds already affecting the Indian economy since early 2019, and increasing renewable energy generation. But our analysis of official Indian data across the nation’s entire 2019-20 fiscal year shows the fall has steepened in March, due to measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The country’s CO2 emissions fell by an estimated 15% during the month of March and are likely to have fallen 30% in April. As with the global CO2 impact of the pandemic, the longer-term outlook for India’s emissions will be shaped, to a significant degree, by the government response to the crisis. This response is now starting to emerge – as set out below – and will have major long-term implications for India’s CO2 emissions and air quality trajectory.