Sector-wise Assessment of Carbon Footprint across Major Cities in India

Ramachandra T. V 1,2,3,*,  K. Sreejith1 and  Bharath H. Aithal1
http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy/

1Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Center for Ecological Sciences [CES]
2Centre for Sustainable Technologies (astra)
3Centre for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning [CiSTUP], Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560 012, India
*Corresponding Author: cestvr@ces.iisc.ernet.in *Corresponding Author: cestvr@ces.iisc.ernet.in
Tel : 91-80-23600985 / 22932506 / 22933099,
Fax : 91-80-23601428 / 23600085 / 23600683 [CES-TVR]

Citation : Ramachandra T.V., K. Sreejith, Bharath H. Aithal , 2015. GHG footprint of major cities in India, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 44 (2015) 473–495, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.12.036
1.1 Carbon Emissions and Economic Growth
1.2  DCarbon Footprint
1.3  Carbon Footprint Studies in Cities 1.4  Sector-Wise Assessment of GHG Emissions in India: Review
Methods
2.1  Study Area
2.2 Quantification of Greenhouse Gases
Results and Discussion
3.1  GHG Emissions from the Energy Sector
3.2 GHG Emissions from the Domestic Sector
3.3 GHG Emissions from the Transportation Sector
3.4 GHG Emissions from the Industrial Sector
3.5 GHG Emissions from Agricultural Activities 3.6 GHG Emissions from Livestock Management 3.7 GHG Emissions from the Waste Sector 3.8 Intercity Variations of Carbon Footprint 3.9 Carbon Footprint: City and Sector

Conclusion
Scope For Further Research
Acknowledgement
References

Summary

Concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has increased rapidly due to anthropogenic activities resulting in significant increase in the temperature of the earth causing global warming. This is quantified using an indicator like global warming potential (GWP) and expressed in units of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 eq), which indicate the carbon footprint of a region. Carbon footprint is thus a measure of the impact of human activities on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced. This study focuses on accounting of the amount of three important greenhouses gases namely carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) and thereby developing carbon footprint of the major cities in India.

National greenhouse gas inventories are used for calculation of greenhouse gas emissions. Country specific emission factors are used where all the emission factors are available. Default emission factors from IPCC guidelines are used when there are no country specific emission factors. Emission of each greenhouse gas is estimated by multiplying fuel consumption by the corresponding emission factor. To calculate total emissions of a gas from all its source categories, emissions are summed over all source categories. The current study estimates greenhouse gas emissions (in terms of CO2 equivalent) in Indian major cities and explores the linkages with the population and GDP.

Carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from Delhi, Greater Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Greater Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad are found to be 38633.2 Gg, 22783.08 Gg, 14812.10 Gg, 22090.55 Gg, 19796.5 Gg, 13734.59 Gg and 9124.45 Gg CO2 eq respectively. The major sector wise contributors are transportation sector (contributing 32%, 17.4%, 13.3%, 19.5%, 43.5%, 56.86% and 25%), domestic sector (contributing 30.26%, 37.2%, 42.78%, 39%, 21.6%, 17.05% and 27.9%) and industrial sector (contributing 7.9%, 7.9%, 17.66%, 20.25%, 12.31%, 11.38% and 22.41%) of the total emissions  from Delhi, Greater Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Greater Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad respectively. Chennai emits 4.79 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions per capita, the highest among all the cities followed by Kolkata which emits 3.29 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions per capita. Also Chennai emits the highest CO2 equivalent emissions per GDP (2.55 tonnes CO2 eq/lakh Rs.) followed by Greater Bangalore which emits 2.18 tonnes CO2 eq/lakh Rs.

Keywords: Carbon footprint, domestic sector, global warming potential, Gross domestic product, India, Industries, major cities, transportation,



* Corresponding Author :
  Dr. T.V. Ramachandra
Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560 019, INDIA.		   Tel :080-22933099/22933503 extn 107
Fax : 91-80-23601428 / 23600085 / 23600683 [CES-TVR]
E-mail : cestvr@ces.iisc.ernet.in, energy@ces.iisc.ernet.in,
Web : http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy