Study analysed link between population density and emissions from vehicles across the districts in the country

• Urbanisation is accelerating greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles in India at a faster than in China.
• On an average, an Indian emitted about 20 kg per capita while commuting for work, with the highest (140 kg CO₂) in Gurugram district (Haryana) and the lowest (1.8 kg CO₂) in Shrawasti district (Uttar Pradesh), says a study that analysed the link between population density and emissions from transport, across India's districts.
• The experience in most developed countries was that urbanisation led to a reduction in emissions — more urbanisation meant shorter distances between the workplace and home and thereby, a preference for public transport.
• However this didn’t effectively apply to developing countries, the authors argue.
• In China a 1% increase in urbanisation was linked with a 0.12% increase in CO₂ emissions whereas, in India, it translated into 0.24% increase in emissions.

Global Carbon Project

• India’s CO₂ emission grew by an estimated 4.6% in 2017 and its per-capita emission was about 1.8 tonnes.
• In spite of being the 4^th largest emitter, India's per capita emissions are much lower than the world average of 4.2 tonnes.
• But those emissions have been growing steadily, with an average growth rate over the past decade of 6%, according to data from the Global Carbon Project.

Lows and Highs

• The mean commuting distance (among commuters) is 5.9 km, with the lowest 1.3 km in Longleng district (Nagaland) and the highest 14 km in Dharmapuri district (Tamil Nadu).
• Delhi had the highest commuting emissions per capita — a factor that also contributed to its high level of pollution — and the national capital region had 2.5 times higher commuting emissions than Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.

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Global Carbon Project

• The Global Carbon Project (GCP) is an organisation that seeks to quantify global greenhouse gas emissions and their causes ,established in 2001, its projects include global budgets for three dominant greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide — and complementary efforts in urban, regional, cumulative, and negative emissions.
• The main object of the group has been to fully understand the carbon cycle.
• The project has brought together emissions experts, earth scientists, and economists to tackle the problem of rising concentrations of greenhouse gases.
• The Global Carbon Project collaborates with many groups to gather, analyze, and publish data on greenhouse gas emissions in an open and transparent fashion, making datasets available on its website and through its publications.
• It was founded as a partnership among the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, the World Climate Programme, the International Human Dimensions Programme and Diversitas, under the umbrella of the Earth System Science Partnership.
• Many core projects in this partnership subsequently became part of Future Earth in 2014.

The Hindu