India tops in agricultural emissions
The country accounts for 12% of global greenhouse emissions from farming and related activities
India tops in agricultural emissions as it accounted for over 12% of the global greenhouse emissions from farming and related activities, says a report.
Agriculture emissions were 7% higher than in China, the next highest polluting country, according to an analysis of Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) by the Business Standard. Compared to Brazil, the third in agricultural emissions, Indian emissions are 30% higher, it added.
The analysis has estimated agriculture emissions from India at 719 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in absolute terms, while the same from China were 673 MtCO2e. India became the top agricultural emitter in 2011, pushing down China.
Emissions increased 1.3% YoY in 2018
According to the study by the newspaper, the growth rate of agriculture emissions has been rising since 2015, even though the share of agriculture in India’s total emissions may have declined between 2009 and 2018.
The year-on-year growth in emissions increased 1.3% in 2018 from 0.5% in 2016 and 0.83% in 2017.
The analysis further noted that considering the rise in rice cultivation emissions from agriculture would have gone up. Data since 2018 is not available to substantiate this, said the report. Rice cultivation accounts for 18% of agriculture emissions.
According to the fourth advanced estimates, rice production in India is pegged at 122.27 million tonne in 2020-21, nearly 9% more than the last five years’ average production.