Household electricity access a trivial contributor to CO₂ emissions growth in India

Abstract

Impetus to expand electricity access in developing nations is urgent¹. Yet aspirations to provide universal access to electricity are often considered potentially conflicting with efforts to mitigate climate change². How much newly electrified, largely poor, households raise emissions, however, remains uncertain. Results from a first retrospective analysis show that improvements in household electricity access contributed 3–4% of national emissions growth in India over the past three decades. Emissions from both the direct and indirect electricity use of more than 650 million people connected since 1981 accounted for 11–25% of Indian emissions growth or, on average, a rise of 0.008–0.018 tons of CO₂ per person per year between 1981 and 2011. Although this is a marginal share of global emissions, it does not detract from the importance for developing countries to start reducing the carbon intensities of their electricity generation to ensure sustainable development and avoid future carbon lock-in^3,4. Significant ancillary benefits for air quality, health, energy security and efficiency may also make this attractive for reasons other than climate mitigation alone^5,6.