Transport sector emissions and decarbonization pathways for Viksit Bharat 2047 and Net Zero 2070

India’s transport system is central to economic development: it connects production centres with markets, enables labour mobility, supports urbanisation, and strengthens national integration. Yet the sector’s developmental role is accompanied by the dual challenges – rising carbon and energy-security. As per estimates, transport sector contributes about 5 percent of India’s gross value added, while accounting for a much larger share – around 12 percent – of energy-related CO2 emissions. It is also a major reason for degraded ambient air quality.23 These mismatches show that mobility is economically enabling but carbon intensive, especially because the sector remains heavily dependent on conventional fuels.

The task for policy makers is therefore not to restrain mobility, but to redesign its energy base, technology choices and modal share structure. By 2047, when India aims to become Viksit Bharat, the transport sector must be efficient, affordable, inclusive and less oil dependent. By 2070, when India has committed to net zero emissions, transport must be largely decarbonized through a combination of electrification, compressed biogas (CBG), green-hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and modal shifts (private to public transport, and road to railways).