Working Paper
Potential Impact of Corporate Climate Action in India
Many large Indian businesses have committed to ambitious climate initiatives. However, there exists little understanding of the aggregate impact of these initiatives and how they relate to emissions at the national level. This working paper estimates the collective impact of voluntary climate actions by Indian companies. As climate commitments and initiatives by non-state and subnational actors increase globally, a better understanding of their potential impacts can help draw better projections to support better climate policy planning and implementation.
Key Findings
- We find that the 50 Indian companies, representing about 35 percent of India’s industrial sector emissions, included in this analysis can reduce their GHG emissions by 5.76 percent in 2020 and by 13.04 percent in 2030 through their existing voluntary climate commitments, relative to their emissions in the Reference Scenario.
- We find that the existing voluntary climate commitments of the 50 Indian companies can lead to a reduction of 1.74 to 1.95 percent in India’s aggregate GHG emissions in 2030 over and above national emissions projections that consider existing climate policies.
- We find that heavy industries such as Metals, Pulp & Paper, and Cement drive over 90 percent of the overall emissions reduction, despite their less ambitious emissions reduction targets on average, as compared to other sectors.