An analysis of Carbon Footprints of Indian Households
The study on carbon footprints of Indian households was conducted by the Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC, Bengaluru, India) as a part of a broader project “Supporting the Institutionalisation of Capacities on Climate Change Studies and Actions”, implemented by MoEFCC, Govt. of India and GIZ. The study necessitates an evaluation of household carbon emissions to understand the extent of nation-wide emissions and variations across socioeconomic strata and agroecological zones. The methodological design adopted for this study was cross-sectional with a consultative approach.
The primary objective of the study is to determine the carbon emissions of households and their changing lifestyle followed by emission comparisons among 13 locations in nine agroecological zones and across levels of urbanisations (rural, peri-urban, and urban).
The carbon footprint calculations were based on primary data on consumptions by households collected through a household questionnaire survey of 1950 households with uniform coverage of agroecological zones, level of development and socioeconomic conditions. The survey tool used was an extensive questionnaire with questions under broad categories of socioeconomic description of households, income and expenditure categories, land resources and assets, consumptions with subdivisions including energy, food, travel and transport and all other non-durables, behaviour, and determinants of consumption along with associated regulations and barriers for sustainable consumption.
The average HCF of Indian households is estimated at around 6,505 KgCO2e per household per year with a corresponding per capita carbon footprint of 1,472 KgCO2e per year. While only basic HCF is calculated excluding the items that are non-prevalent among the lower income groups, the average HCF was calculated to be 5,625 KgCO2e per year, whereas the per capita emission is 1,273 KgCO2e per year.
The impact of economic well-being on carbon emission is evident from the upward trend of increasing footprint with respect to increasing household’s annual income.
Further assessment of carbon footprints from different sectors (food, energy, and travel) has revealed variations among socioeconomic classes and across geographical locations. Inconsistencies in consumption among households and the rural-urban divide have emerged very prominently in the study results.
Along with the intensification of sustainable lifestyles, attention to be provided to proper utilisation of India’s tradable carbon surplus for the economic well-being of the underprivileged population. Popularising traditional sustainable lifestyles and the concept of self-reliant landscapes, and production systems through circular economy should be aggressively taken up for household emission reduction. Compensating the low consumption lifestyle irrespective of the rural-urban divide can be effective in maintaining a low average HCF of Indian households. It is expected to contribute towards awareness building, knowledge exchange, strengthening capacities for enhanced science-policy-practice and more informed bottom-up strategy formulation for low-carbon lifestyle with subsequent socio-economic development.
(The study was conducted by the Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC, Bengaluru, India) and GIZ under the Indo-German bilateral cooperation project on “Supporting the Institutionalisation of Capacities on Climate Change Studies and Actions (ICCC)” commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and being implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ))
