India's power sector CO2 emissions fall for only 2nd time in 50 years: Study

New Delhi, Sep 18 (PTI) India's carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector fell by 1 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2025 and by 0.2 per cent over the past 12 months, only the second decline in nearly five decades, a new analysis showed on Thursday.

The study, conducted by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) for UK-based Carbon Brief, said India has contributed nearly two-fifths of the global energy sector emissions growth since 2019.

In 2024, India accounted for 8 per cent of the global energy CO2 emissions, despite having 18 per cent of the world's population and per capita emissions far below the global average.

Total power generation rose by 9 terawatt hours (TWh) in the first half of 2025 but fossil fuel generation fell by 29 TWh as output from solar grew 17 TWh, from wind 9TWh, from hydropower by 9TWh and from nuclear by 3TWh, the report said.

Government data analysed by CREA shows that 65 per cent of the decline in fossil-fuel generation was due to slower growth in electricity demand, 20 per cent due to faster expansion of non-hydro clean power and 15 per cent due to higher hydropower output.

Milder temperatures, abundant rainfall and a slowdown in industrial activity curbed electricity usage. From March to May 2025, rainfall was 42 per cent above normal, boosting hydropower output.

This cut air conditioning demand, which accounts for around 10 per cent of the total electricity consumption. By contrast, record heatwaves in 2024 spiked power demand.

Clean energy growth was supported by a record 25.1 GW of non-fossil capacity additions in the first half of 2025, up 69 per cent from the same period last year.

Solar dominated new installations, with 14.3 GW from large projects and 3.2 GW from rooftops.

Solar also drove most of the new clean-power generation, delivering 62 per cent of the additional output, followed by hydropower at 16 per cent, wind at 13 per cent and nuclear at 8 per cent, the analysis said. PTI GVS DIV DIV