Developing new pathways for energy and environmental decision-making in India: a review

Abstract

India faces a dual challenge of economic development and responding to climate change. Although India’s per capita emissions are well below global average, the country is one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters. Indian policymakers and stakeholders require high-quality data and research to assess low-emissions, sustainable development strategies. Peer-reviewed literature is a key source of this information and also a key venue for conversation amongst research leaders. This paper examines the recent peer-reviewed literature on India's 2030 and 2050 pathways. We conducted a systematic literature review to identify key quantitative national modeling studies. From the 34 studies identified, we synthesized scenario data to draw common conclusions and identify critical research gaps. The main focus was on examining the coverage and the state of information available on low-carbon pathways. Overall, we find a few scenarios that are potentially consistent with a 2070 net-zero goal, but more limited assessment of pathways to reach net-zero emissions before this date. Mitigation pathways with greater ambition are required across all energy sectors to ensure a smooth transition to net-zero emissions by or before 2070. The scenarios confirm that reducing emissions to below 2 GtCO2/year by mid-century would necessitate significant transformations of the Indian energy sector, such as, a decrease in unabated coal power capacity, transportation modal shift, and industrial process switching. The assessment also finds substantial differences in final energy estimates reported across studies, particularly in transportation. The lack of consistency in, and transparency about underlying drivers, assumptions, and even outputs across studies points to the critical need for the sorts of coordinated, multi-model studies that have proven exceptionally valuable for decision makers in other major emitting countries.

Life Cycle Analysis of Thin-Film Photovoltaic Thermal Systems for Different Tropical Regions

“…Energy yield = Lifetime of the total system(years) Energy payback time (EPBT) (years) (10) For a photovoltaic thermal system, the annual energy yield factor must be larger than zero, which means that over a given lifespan, the PVT system's power output is compelled to be more than the embodied energy of the system. The EPBT of a PVT system is used to analyze the energy demand gap between the actual need and total energy produced; the lesser the EPBT, the better the PV system's alternative to fossil fuel-based energy production.…”

“…Climate change can upset the world's environmental stability [9]. The Paris Agreement aimed to keep global warming under 2 • C [10]. The worldwide need for power will peak in the year 2030, according to the World Energy Council [11].…”

Mitigation of non-CO2 greenhouse gases from Indian agriculture sector

“…As a fast-growing major economy, India's future emissions trajectory is important for the global climate goals. Since the Paris Climate Change agreement, many national (Vishwanathan and Garg 2020, Durga et al 2022 and international (Grubler et al 2018, Kikstra et al 2021, IEA 2022 modelling assessments have focused on scenarios to mitigate CO 2 emissions from the energy sector which contributes around 70% of the total GHG emissions globally and in India (Olivier andPeters 2020, MoEFCC 2021). However, the policy emission targets are generally formulated with reference to total GHG emissions (as CO 2eq ) that include agriculture, waste, industrial processes, and product use, and include non-CO 2 GHGs (NCGG) like methane (CH 4 ), nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and fluorinated gases.…”