Decarbonising Transport

India has pledged under the Paris Agreement to achieve net zero by 2070. To achieve this target, India has to bring down carbon emissions and reduce the carbon intensity of the economy. In other words, India has to decarbonise its economy. The transport sector is one of the major carbon emitting sectors in India, as it accounts for around 14% of the total emissions. India has one of the lowest per capita emissions from the transport sector among the G20 countries, but its emissions from the transport sector are set to grow by 65% by 2030 and by 197% by 2050. Hence, it is very important to decarbonise the transport sector. One of the approaches, as suggested by a NITI Ayog report, is to focus on Mobility Transformation and Energy Transformation for achieving decarbonisation in the transport sector. Therefore, to address the need for decarbonisation, India has launched various policies and missions, such as National Green Hydrogen Mission, National Biofuels Policy, FAME scheme, etc. But this sector is one of the ‘hard to abate’ sectors, among others such as steel, aluminium, cement, etc. Hence, it would be difficult to introduce a low-carbon emissions transition in this sector.

Transport sector: This sector is the backbone of any economy around the world. Of the total emissions of the transport sector, carbon emissions by the sub-sectors as collated by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 2021 are as follows:

• Road Transport: 90%
• Civil Aviation: 6%
• Railways: 3%
• Domestic water-born navigation: 1%

NITI Aayog has come out with a report titled ‘Towards Decarbonising Transport 2023’, which provides some important sector specific data.

Carbon emissions in this sector continue to rise due to the extensive motorisation of the Indian economy. Robust growth is expected in each sub-sector in the decades to come. This is due to the rise in income levels in the economy and continued urbanisation in the country. So the emissions are expected to rise by 65% by 2030 and by 197% by 2050 at 2020 levels. Although the per-capita emissions of the transport sector in India are among the lowest in the G20 countries, the sheer absolute amount is very high. Thus, India has to adopt low-carbon emission approaches.

Decarbonisation: It is a method of bringing down the carbon dioxide emissions often linked to anthropogenic activities. This is primarily done to reduce global warming and mitigate climate change. Approaches to decarbonisation are:

• Low-carbon emission transition, which means switching to low-carbon emission alternatives to accomplish the same task.
• Carbon offsets: Balancing carbon emissions with carbon sequestration.

• High carbon emissions: India is currently the third largest emitter in the world. In addition to this, its total emissions are expected to increase to 3.37 billion metric tonnes per year by 2045 (from 2.48 billion metric tonnes per year).
• India’s Vulnerability: India ranked 7th in the Climate Change Risk Index by Germanwatch. Extreme weather events due to global temperature rise, such as cloudbursts, flash floods, droughts, etc., have already increased in the country.
• India’s Commitment: Under the Paris Climate Agreement, India has made commitments under NDCs to reduce carbon emissions and create carbon sinks.

For decarbonisation in the transport sector, the approach suggested by the NITI Aayog ‘Towards Decarbonising Transport 2023’ report hinges on two main pillars: mobility transition and energy transition.

• Mobility Transition: It refers to the transition of the vehicles or modes used by people to move around. For example, if people currently use internal combustion engine vehicles for commuting, they must either switch to electric vehicles or to public transport that runs on renewable energy.
• Energy Transition: It refers to the transition of fuel or energy being used for transport to more cleaner and renewable resources. For example, most passenger vehicles use fossil-fuel based energy, and hence they could shift towards biofuels or electricity.

By addressing the above two pillars, a transition in transport towards decarbonisation can be achieved.

1. Mobility Transformation
   1. Focus on Public Transport:
      1. By 2030, it is expected that almost 40% of the total population in India will live in urban areas. Hence, it is very important to focus on public transport for urban mobility.
      2. The current urban mobility must be replaced with low-carbon alternatives that are affordable for all.
      3. In addition to this, there is a massive shortfall in public transport in Indian cities that needs to be addressed.
      4. There has to be seamless multi-model integration between buses, metros, e-rickshaws, etc, so that citizens are more inclined towards using public transport.
   2. Building accessible cities:
      1. Modern infrastructure and urban planning must be done in such a way that every corner of the city is accessible by some mode of transport.
      2. Building accessible cities will also promote active mobility, in which people would use cycling, walking, e-scooters, etc, to cover short distances. This would benefit the environment and public health.
   3. Replacing PVs with eVs:
      1. Passenger Vehicles (PVs) fleet is currently dominated by two-or three-wheelers that cause very high pollution and carbon emissions and the rest by four-wheelers.
      2. So replacing this huge fleet of PVs with electric Vehicles (eVs) or other low carbon alternatives such as flexifuel engines, hydrogen powered vehicles, etc. should be the priority.
      3. Also, there must be adequate charging infrastructure for eVs to provide last-mile connectivity.
   4. Shifting freight modes:
      1. Almost 80% of road transport emissions are due to freight carrying vehicles or trucks. Also, the share of rail and water-borne transport that are relatively low-carbon emitters in freight is low as compared to other developed countries.
      2. It is widely considered that electric vehicles cannot be introduced in the trucking industry for cost efficiency.
      3. Therefore, there has to be a shift in the mode of freight towards rail and inland water-borne transport. Furthermore, these modes must be optimised to make them low-carbon emitters.
2. Energy Transformation
   1. Renewable energy:
      1. Just introducing and replacing vehicles with eVs won't be sufficient. They must be powered with renewable sources of energy.
      2. Current coal based power sources must be replaced by wind, solar, tidal, and nuclear energy.
   2. Introduction of alternate fuels/flexi fuels:
      1. Carbon emissions can be significantly reduced by introducing alternate fuels such as biofuels and flexi-fuels such as ethanol blending in petrol in the existing vehicle fleet.
   3. Hydrogen:
      1. Using green hydrogen as the source of energy for transport can be revolutionary in reducing carbon emissions.
      2. It is also seen as a possible alternate fuel for the trucking, aviation, and shipping industries where electric energy cannot be used.

• National Mission on Transforming Mobility and Battery Storage:
  • To promote clean, connected and shared mobility.
  • It includes phased manufacturing programmes for electric vehicles, batteries, and other eV components.
  • Focus will be on localisation of production and the entire value chain of eVs.
• FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles) India Scheme
  • Introduced in 2015, by the Ministry of Heavy Industries, for promotion of electric and hybrid vehicles in the market.
  • Under Phase-I (2015-2019), the focus areas of the scheme were demand generation, technological development, pilot projects and charging infrastructure.
  • Under Phase-II (2019-2022), focus was on electrification of two,three-wheeler and public transport electrification.
  • Under Redesigned Phase-II (2022-2024), some increased incentives are offered for reducing the upfront cost of eV adoption.
• Introduction of BS VI norms for reducing carbon emissions.
• E 20:
  • The Government has set a target of achieving 20% ethanol blending in petrol by 2025.
  • India has already achieved the earlier target of 10% ethanol blending in petrol.
• Indian Railways
  • Railways have set a target of achieving net-zero by 2030 through progressive renewable energy procurement and energy efficiency targets.
  • Dedicated freight corridors for freight hauling.
  • 100% electrification of tracks by 2023-24.
• National Green Hydrogen Mission
  • Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
  • It aims at making India a global champion in Green Hydrogen production
  • Mission’s expected outcome: 5 MMT of Green Hydrogen by 2030, cumulative abatement of 50 MMT of carbon, etc
• PM e-Bus Sewa Scheme for deploying 10,000 e-buses through PPP model.
• AMRUT mission, Smart Cities Mission, etc. for promotion of urban public transport and other initiatives such as electric buses, metro trains, dedicated lanes for cycling, etc.

• Huge funding requirement: Huge investment is needed to introduce mobility changes and energy transitions. But fund mobilisation is a challenge due to the long gestation of the projects and dodgy returns. For a developing country like India, it is difficult to allocate resources towards decarbonisation due to its other developmental priorities.
• Slower adoption of eVs: In a price-sensitive market like India, eV adoption has been very slow due to its high pricing. In addition to this, the charging infrastructure is not adequate.
• Life cycle emissions: By electrification of transport, final operational emissions from vehicles will be lowered. But the manufacturing and production of an eV involve lots of carbon emissions, which are often unaccounted for.
• Delayed projects and cost overruns: Urban mobility projects have been delayed due to various reasons. This has led to cost overruns and reduced returns for the investors.
• Attitudinal changes: The attitude of the general public towards the low-carbon alternative has not been positive. For example, the sale of big SUVs with higher capacity diesel guzzling engines has skyrocketed. There is a general lack of awareness among the public about climate change. Thus, government efforts towards climate change mitigation often fall short of expectations.

The transport sector is one of the leading carbon emitters, and the need to reduce this emission has been recognised at the global level. Although India has not set any sector-specific targets for the transport sector in its NDCs, it is committed to decarbonising the sector. But India alone cannot achieve this without international cooperation. It needs not only investment on a large scale but also cooperation in terms of technology. Private investment must also be channelised in this area. Decarbonisation involves taking strong and hard decisions that are often unpopular among the citizenry. Hence, there is a need to change the attitude of the general public and make them aware of the importance of decarbonisation so that stakeholders can move towards low carbon alternatives.