Act now to make our infra boom more climate friendly

India’s ongoing buildup is at a scale without precedent. The National Infrastructure Pipeline projected an outlay of more than 100 trillion in the five years till the end of 2024-25 across 9,000 projects in transport, energy, urban and rural development, and digital infrastructure, of which roughly a fifth are complete. Alongside, PM Gati Shakti seeks logistics corridors for digitally coordinated connectivity

- SOUMYA SARKAR

These efforts aim to lift growth, improve services and generate employment. Yet, the scale of expansion embeds long-term carbon emissions that are rarely measured. While operational energy has received attention—how much power is consumed by buildings, how efficient transport systems are and how renewable capacity reduces grid emissions—what is often overlooked is embodied carbon, or the emissions released in producing materials such as cement, steel, aluminium, glass and bitumen, and in construction processes. India’s infra pipeline risks hard-wiring a surge in emissions for decades.

Once a project is built, some emissions are locked in. The Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction 2023 shows that embodied carbon accounts for nearly a third of built environment emissions globally, and this share will rise as operational energy becomes cleaner.

India’s exposure is acute because of high construction demand. Our built-up floor area is expected to multiply from 15.8 to 57.6 billion square metres by 2050. The materials chosen today will carry a carbon burden for decades. The country’s infra surge, while essential for development, could become either a climate asset or liability.