Key Insights | Moving to a Cleaner Future: Is India’s Electricity Grid on Track?

India is relying on electrification of different energy end-uses to move away from fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As part of its effort to make the electricity grid green, the country has set a target to increase non-fossil-fuel-based installed capacity to 500 GW by 2030 from about 200 GW in FY 2023-24. Many of the climate mitigation strategies like rolling out electric vehicles are being justified based on the expectation that the electricity grid, which has historically depended largely on coal-fired thermal power plants, is fast turning clean. Greening India’s electricity is also viewed as important to protect the country’s export capability under the upcoming Carbon Border Adjustment regimes.

Emissions factor of electricity, expressed in gCO₂ per kWh, measures the average carbon burden of electricity. It is used to estimate carbon footprint of electricity consumption. To understand the progress in decarbonisation of a sector or the economy at large, it is critical to take stock of the emission factor of the country’s electricity. Based on a data-driven analysis, the research insights have brought to light why or why not India’s electricity grid is turning cleaner fast enough and the possible challenges to materialise the decarbonisation plan.