India reported that its total GHG emissions, excluding land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF), reached 2,959 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) and including LULUCF emissions stood at 2,437 MtCO2e, according to the fourth Biennial Update Report (BUR-4) submitted on December 30.

 “National emissions, including LULUCF, decreased by 7.93% compared to 2019, and have increased by 98.34% since 1994,” the report stated.

The report also highlighted India’s continued progress in decoupling economic growth from GHG emissions. Between 2005 and 2020, the country’s GDP emission intensity reduced by 36%.

 Biennial Update Reports (BURs) provide updates on GHG emissions, progress in climate actions, and the need for support in mitigation, adaptation, and capacity building. These are required to be submitted by developing countries to the UNFCCC every two years,

 The main contributors to India’s GHG emissions were CO2 from fossil fuel combustion, methane from livestock, and emissions associated with increasing aluminium and cement production. The LULUCF sector remained a net carbon sink during the 2020 inventory period.

 When considering total emissions and removals, India’s net national emissions in 2020 were 24,36,656 gigagrams of CO2 equivalent (GgCO2e).

The energy sector’s share to India’s emissions was 75.66%, followed by agriculture at 13.72%, industrial processes and product use (IPPU) at 8.06%, and waste at 2.56%.

 India, which has 18% of the global population, had an annual per capita primary energy consumption of 25.4 gigajoules (GJ) in 2022. This is about a third of the global average of 78 GJ per person. In comparison, high-income countries had a per capita consumption of 119 GJ, with the U.S. recording 277 GJ.

The report also emphasised that energy consumption needs to rise significantly to meet India’s development objectives.