Black Carbon emissions are a big problem for India. Here's every detail to know

India pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by the year 2070 in Glasgow at the COP26 climate talks. With this, the country placed itself as one of the fastest countries to achieve carbon neutrality. As per the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, a renewable energy capacity of about 180GW has been installed in the year 2023. India is expected to touch the target of 500 GW by the year 2030. 

Understanding the relevance of black carbon

Black carbon is actually a dark colored sooty material. This material is usually emitted with other pollutants in situations when fossil fuels and biomass are not completely combusted. Black carbon actually leads to global warming. Not to miss, it can lead to severe risks as well. As per several studies, there exists a direct association between exposure to this dark sooty material called black carbon and increased risks of heart ailments, premature deaths, and birth complications. A majority of black carbon emissions in the country are a result of burning of biomass.

As per a study conducted in the year 2016, the residential sector in the country actually contributes to a total of 47 percent of the total black carbon emissions in the country. Also, industries too are a great black carbon emitter, and contribute to 22 percent of the total black carbon emissions in the country. Additionally, diesel vehicles contribute to 17 percent of the total black carbon emissions and open burning too contributes to another 12 percent.

It is also important to note that the decarbonization efforts in the industry in the past decades have been successful in reducing the black carbon emissions. However, the residential sector still emits a large amount of black carbon.

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The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)

The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was brought up with the primary objective of making the rural households of the country access clean cooking fuel. This in turn would decline their dependence on traditional cooking fuels. In this sense, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has been successful in setting up infrastructure to work with LPG connections, such as the right distribution network, deposits for LPG cylinders, and free has stoves. Since its inception, the program has been successful in playing an important role in bringing the black carbon emissions down. The program provides a cleaner alternative. As of January 2024, the program has successfully provided connections to about 10 crore households of the country.

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