Policy Brief
An Assessment of Avoided CO2 Emissions during Construction, Maintenance and Operation of National Highways
22 Feb 2023
India has the 2nd largest road network in the world. Amongst the different types of roads, the National Highways extending to 1,44,634 km has contributed significantly to India’s rapid economic development. The rapid pace of construction of highways is enabling integration of the local economies of far flung towns and villages into the national economy.
Battery Electric Technology In The Heavy-Duty Vehicle Segment
08 Jul 2022
| Mr Sharif Qamar
| Faiz Jamal
70% of total tonne-km of India's freight transport takes place via roads (TERI, 2015) and is dominated by medium and heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs) with a share of around 60% and the remaining by light-duty vehicles (LDVs). Reduced emission levels from 'hard to abate' sectors such as medium/heavy-duty long-distance transport, aviation, and shipping will continue to be critical in the future. Sustained efforts in this direction are crucial to achieving emission intensity reduction targets globally and in India, as outlined in the country's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
Transitioning to a Low Carbon Technology for the Road Transport in India
14 Mar 2022
| Mr Abhishek Kaushik
| Mr Shanmuganathan K
| Ms Sachi Vohra
| Mr G Renjith
India is the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions. At present, India accounts for a significant multimodal road transport sector contributing approximately 10 per cent of country’s total CO2 emissions, making it the second most carbon emitting sector in the country. Driven by rising population, income, and urbanization, under a business-as-usual scenario, India’s energy demand from transport is projected to increase six fold in 2050 from current levels. Therefore, decarbonizing the transport sector in India can help to substantially reduce these environmental impacts.
Moving towards Aggregation: Freight Forwarder Scheme of Railways
15 Feb 2022
| Ms Palak Passi
One of the key strategies in the Union Budget 2022 for increasing rail freight market share, aims at facilitating the integration of smaller goods through seamless solutions and multimodal logistics facilities at cargo terminals. Despite an increase in railways' market share to 45% by 2030, a key transport decarbonization strategy for India, it continues to exhibit a gradual decline due to a variety of reasons.
Developing Rail Freight Terminals: Energizing Private Partnerships
15 Feb 2022
| Ms Viral Joshi
Railways has often been termed as the "backbone of the economy", facilitating passenger and freight transportation to the length and breadth of the country. In recent years, railways has experienced a constant decline in the freight business, resulting in a growing concern for railway finances and National Decarbonisation Targets.
Assessing the environmental benefits from switching auto-rickshaws in Chennai to electric
18 Jun 2020
| Mr Aravind Harikumar
| Ms Palak Thakur
| Ms Sugandha Pal
In Chennai, auto rickshaws constitute 40% of all transport vehicles and 58% of passenger transport vehicles. The share of auto-rickshaws has increased from practically zero in 1970 to over 6% in 2008.
Impact of COVID-19 on urban mobility in India: Evidence from a perception study
17 May 2020
| Ms Palak Thakur
| Mr Promit Mookherjee
| Ms Aakansha Jain
| Mr Aravind Harikumar
The urban transportation landscape is likely to undergo significant changes due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Increased risks associated with crowded places combined with social distancing measures in public and shared transport are likely to affect modal choices of commuters. Urban freight needs may also alter with the change in the use of e-services. To assess the likely nature of such a shift, an online survey was conducted, which was designed to elicit the perceptions of respondents related to work trips, online grocery shopping, and food delivery pre and post COVID-19.
Emerging role of bike (motorcycle) taxis in urban mobility
02 Mar 2020
| Ms Palak Thakur
| Ms Aakansha Jain
| Mr Aravind Harikumar
Ride sharing and hailing services have given new dimension to urban mobility. Bike taxis serve as an intermediate public transport mode offering first and last mile services in India.
Regulatory mechanisms for electric three-wheelers
18 Feb 2020
| Ms Palak Thakur
| Ms Sugandha Pal
Electrification of auto-rickshaws plays an important role in meeting the transport requirement of many large and medium Indian cities and is critical for reducing air pollution and providing clean mobility solutions. The electrification of auto-rickshaws may result in lower operation and maintenance costs as compared to Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles making them economically viable for the owner/driver. Despite many initiatives and programmes of the government, such as the Faster Adoption of Manufacturing Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) in India, the growth of electric vehicles (EVs) is still not able to pick up the pace.
Fleet Modernization: A solution to achieve better air quality
10 Dec 2019
| Ms Shivani Sharma
| Ms Anju Goel
| Mr Souvik Bhattacharjya
| Ms Mani Juneja
| Mr Nitin Bajpai
| Dr Sumit Sharma
India's transport demand has grown from a total of 5.3 million in 1981 to 230 million in 2016, with two-wheelers and cars having 73% and 14% share, respectively. Commercial vehicles though constitute only about 5% of the total fleet, contribute to nearly 80% of total PM emissions. Phase-wise implementation of fleet modernization (transforming pre BS-IV commercial vehicles to BS-VI) would lead to a 40-80% reduction in PM and NOx emissions from the sector by 2025. The total number of avoided mortality from attributable to PM5 reduction from fleet modernization between 2020 and 2040 is estimated to be more than 500,000.