Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and industries around the world is likely to increase by 2% by end 2017 compared to last year. However, a new report published on Monday said India’s contribution to that figure will be substantially lower because of demonetisation and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax.
The 2017 Global Carbon Budget said Indian emissions are projected to grow at 2% this year, compared to 6% a year on an average over the previous decade, “because of significant government interventions in the economy”.
While India did make efforts to reduce emissions, including doubling its solar capacity in 2016, the report credited the fall in this year’s emissions to several other factors. These include “reduced exports, a declining share of industrial and agricultural production in GDP, reduced consumer demand, and both a sudden fall in money circulation attributable to demonetisation late in 2016 and a Goods and Services Tax introduced in 2017”.
However, the report warned that if the Indian economy recovers quickly from these interventions, the annual growth in greenhouse gas emissions is again likely to go over 5% in 2018.
The Global Carbon Budget is an annual report card that assesses changes in the Earth’s sources of carbon dioxide, both natural and human-caused. It was simultaneously published in three journals – Nature Climate Change, Environmental Research Letters and Earth System Science Data Discussions – on Monday.
The report said emissions around the world were rising this year – ending a three-year period of almost zero rise in emissions – because China’s emissions are projected to increase 3.5%. China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, followed by the United States, the European Union and India.
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