Carbon footprint of India’s groundwater irrigation

India has an intricate nexus of groundwater irrigation, energy and climate. Subsidized electricity supply has led to unregulated groundwater pumping, causing a decrease in groundwater level and increase in carbon emissions. This complex nexus necessitates estimation of carbon emissions from groundwa...

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Main Authors: Rajan, Abhishek, Ghosh, Kuhelika, Shah, Ananya
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Informa UK Limited 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/108136
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author Rajan, Abhishek
Ghosh, Kuhelika
Shah, Ananya
author_browse Ghosh, Kuhelika
Rajan, Abhishek
Shah, Ananya
author_facet Rajan, Abhishek
Ghosh, Kuhelika
Shah, Ananya
author_sort Rajan, Abhishek
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description India has an intricate nexus of groundwater irrigation, energy and climate. Subsidized electricity supply has led to unregulated groundwater pumping, causing a decrease in groundwater level and increase in carbon emissions. This complex nexus necessitates estimation of carbon emissions from groundwater irrigation. The study uses actual pumping data on 20.5 million groundwater structures from the Fifth Minor Irrigation Census (reference year 2013–14) to estimate carbon emissions. The estimates show that groundwater irrigation emits 45.3–62.3 MMT of carbon annually, contributing 8–11% of India’s total carbon emission. This analysis shows deep tubewells have a huge carbon footprint, and their growing number is a serious environmental concern. Spatial analysis reveals India’s western and peninsular region, which houses 85% of the country’s over-exploited groundwater blocks, contributes most to carbon emission. Moreover, this region hosts 27 districts which are groundwater–energy–climate nexus hotspots, together accounting for 34% of carbon emissions from groundwater irrigation. Comparison with the previous estimate reveals that carbon emission from groundwater irrigation nearly doubled between 2000 and 2013. Findings of this study are vital to the discourse on the increasing environmental costs of groundwater pumping in the country and will contribute to carbon emission mitigation strategies.
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spelling CGSpace1081362024-05-01T08:16:53Z Carbon footprint of India’s groundwater irrigation Rajan, Abhishek Ghosh, Kuhelika Shah, Ananya carbon footprint groundwater irrigation energy consumption climate nexus greenhouse gas emissions groundwater table shallow tube wells deep tube wells pumping pumps electricity supplies subsidies India has an intricate nexus of groundwater irrigation, energy and climate. Subsidized electricity supply has led to unregulated groundwater pumping, causing a decrease in groundwater level and increase in carbon emissions. This complex nexus necessitates estimation of carbon emissions from groundwater irrigation. The study uses actual pumping data on 20.5 million groundwater structures from the Fifth Minor Irrigation Census (reference year 2013–14) to estimate carbon emissions. The estimates show that groundwater irrigation emits 45.3–62.3 MMT of carbon annually, contributing 8–11% of India’s total carbon emission. This analysis shows deep tubewells have a huge carbon footprint, and their growing number is a serious environmental concern. Spatial analysis reveals India’s western and peninsular region, which houses 85% of the country’s over-exploited groundwater blocks, contributes most to carbon emission. Moreover, this region hosts 27 districts which are groundwater–energy–climate nexus hotspots, together accounting for 34% of carbon emissions from groundwater irrigation. Comparison with the previous estimate reveals that carbon emission from groundwater irrigation nearly doubled between 2000 and 2013. Findings of this study are vital to the discourse on the increasing environmental costs of groundwater pumping in the country and will contribute to carbon emission mitigation strategies. 2020-05-03 2020-05-04T07:15:15Z 2020-05-04T07:15:15Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/108136 en Limited Access Informa UK Limited Rajan, Abhishek; Ghosh, Kuhelika; Shah, Ananya. 2020. Carbon footprint of India’s groundwater irrigation. Carbon Management, 11(3):265-280.
spellingShingle carbon footprint
groundwater
irrigation
energy consumption
climate
nexus
greenhouse gas emissions
groundwater table
shallow tube wells
deep tube wells
pumping
pumps
electricity supplies
subsidies
Rajan, Abhishek
Ghosh, Kuhelika
Shah, Ananya
Carbon footprint of India’s groundwater irrigation
title Carbon footprint of India’s groundwater irrigation
title_full Carbon footprint of India’s groundwater irrigation
title_fullStr Carbon footprint of India’s groundwater irrigation
title_full_unstemmed Carbon footprint of India’s groundwater irrigation
title_short Carbon footprint of India’s groundwater irrigation
title_sort carbon footprint of india s groundwater irrigation
topic carbon footprint
groundwater
irrigation
energy consumption
climate
nexus
greenhouse gas emissions
groundwater table
shallow tube wells
deep tube wells
pumping
pumps
electricity supplies
subsidies
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/108136
work_keys_str_mv AT rajanabhishek carbonfootprintofindiasgroundwaterirrigation
AT ghoshkuhelika carbonfootprintofindiasgroundwaterirrigation
AT shahananya carbonfootprintofindiasgroundwaterirrigation