RBI Bulletin Reports India's Energy Efficiency Exceeds Global Average
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Synopsis
A recent RBI study reveals that India's energy efficiency has improved by 1.9% from 2000 to 2023, surpassing the global average of 1.4%. The research highlights the need for India to further enhance renewable energy initiatives to achieve net-zero emissions.
Key Takeaways
- India's energy efficiency rose by 1.9% from 2000-2023.
- Outperformed global average of 1.4% and BRICS average of 1.62%.
- CO2 emissions increased by 706 million tonnes from 2012-2022.
- Renewables like solar and wind now comprise 2.1% of primary energy.
- Need for enhanced focus on renewable energy for net-zero goals.
Mumbai, March 20 (NationPress) India's energy efficiency has seen an improvement of 1.9 percent from 2000 to 2023, outperforming the global average of 1.4 percent, as highlighted in a study conducted by a team from the RBI.
The findings indicate that India significantly surpassed other BRICS nations, which averaged at 1.62 percent. However, India's energy efficiency still trails behind developed economies like the US and Germany, both of which experienced increases exceeding 2 percent during the same timeframe.
From 2012 to 2022, India's emissions related to energy increased by 706 million tonnes, primarily driven by economic growth, with a lesser influence from changes in the fuel mix. Nevertheless, advancements in energy efficiency, structural transformations, and better emission intensity of electricity—thanks to the greater adoption of renewables—helped mitigate emissions by nearly 450 million tonnes, according to the report.
The researchers at the RBI noted, "In the future, the impact of emission factors is projected to become more significant as renewable energy sources gradually replace fossil fuels and the use of green hydrogen expands across industries."
Renewable energy sources have made a modest yet impactful contribution to emission reduction in the past decade, with solar and wind energy representing 2.1 percent of the total primary energy in 2022-23, as stated in the report.
The analysis reveals that while there have been advancements in decoupling emissions from economic growth, India must implement additional measures to reach its net zero target.
India should enhance its efforts towards expanding renewable energy. Currently, the tariffs for solar and wind energy are lower than those for new coal power plants, addressing former concerns regarding the expense of renewables, as noted in the RBI's monthly bulletin.
This report investigates the factors contributing to India's growth in CO2 emissions from 2012 to 2022 using the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) decomposition technique.
It delineates total emissions into critical factors, including the influence of GDP growth, advancements in energy efficiency, economic structure changes, variations in fuel composition, and the increasing share of renewable energy in electricity generation, which contributes to reducing carbon intensity in electricity.
