Climate Transparency Report 2022

The Climate Transparency Report is the world’s most comprehensive annual study of the climate measures of G20 countries. The report provides a concise overview of key facts and figures on the state of climate performance of the G20 countries in a comparative stocktake. The analysis covers adaption, mitigation and finance, with 20 detailed country profiles of all G20 Members and a summary of key findings.

About Climate Transparency Report 2022

The 8th edition of the Climate Transparency Report, released on 20 October 2022, highlights the link between the climate emergency and the energy crisis.

The theme of the 2022 edition is “G20 response to the energy crisis: Critical for 1.5°C“.

Developed by experts from 16 partner organisations from the majority of G20 countries, the report informs policymakers and stimulates national debates. Its assessment includes 100 indicators for climate adaptation, risks, protection and finance.

The report assesses the G20 Members’ past, present and indications of future performance towards a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy by evaluating adaption, mitigation and climate-related finance.

The Climate Transparency Report also contains information on how climate change is already impacting the G20 nations. The rising emissions have led to record-breaking flooding, droughts, fires, and storms, causing damages of billions.

Key Findings

The Climate Transparency Report shows that energy emissions likewise rebounded across G20 countries by 5.9% in 2021, rising back above pre-pandemic levels, despite warnings from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that we must halve emissions by 2030 to keep the 1.5°C in 2021 to higher than pre-pandemic levels.

The G20 Members are responsible for three-quarters of the world’s emissions. These are the world’s biggest economies, many of them home to the finance and technologies needed to tackle the climate crisis.

Observed Climate impacts

• In 2021, the rising temperatures already brought income losses in agriculture, services, manufacturing and construction sectors.
• The countries most affected by income losses in the above sectors in 2021 were India (5.4% of GDP), Indonesia (1.6% of GDP), and Saudi Arabia (1% of GDP).

Heatwaves

• With rising temperatures, the impacts of climate change will become even more severe.
• In Brazil and India, the Heatwaves will likely affect 10% of the current population of these countries. At ‘3°C of warming’, this will likely increase to over 20% in Brazil and almost 30% in India.

Carbon prices

• Carbon prices are increasing but are still too low.
• The coverage in the G20 countries remains highly insufficient except in a few countries.
• Seven Members of the G20 nations have no carbon pricing mechanism, including (Australia, Brazil, and India), whereas only Canada and France have sufficiently high prices per t/CO₂.

Climate Finance

• Five of the eight G20 Members do not deliver their fair share contribution to the USD 100 billion climate finance goal annually.
• The United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, and Australia fall short. The United States only contributed a small fraction (5%) of its calculated annual fair share.

Fossil fuel subsidies

• The fossil fuel subsidies rose to USD 190 billion in 2021 (around USD 40 billion more than in 2020), including the Largest subsidies to fossil fuel producers ever tracked by the OECD.
• The countries with the highest subsidies were China, Indonesia, and the UK.

Emissions rebound

• Between 2020 and 2021, the total energy-released CO₂ emissions in the G20 countries increased by 5.9% (after a reduction of 4.9% between 2019 and 2020).
• Countries with the highest rebound in per capita energy-released CO₂ emission growth in 2021 compared to 2020 are:
  • Brazil (increased by 13%, after a decline of 6% between 2019 and 2020),
  • Turkey (increased by 11%, after a drop of 1% between 2019 and 2020),
  • Russia (increased by 10%, after a decline of 4% between 2019 and 2020).

Power sector

• In the power sector, emissions rebounded in 2021 above 2020 levels (a reduction of 2.8% followed by an increase of 7.1%).

Transport sector

• The highest decline in emissions during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was in the transport sector (a reduction of 11.5% followed by an increase of 7.7%).
• In China and Turkey, per capita emissions rebounded in 2021 to even higher levels than in 2019. (China by 12% in 2021 after a drop of 5% in 2020 and Turkey by 12% in 2021 after a decline of 7% in 2020).

Building sector

• From the building sector, emissions increased in 2021 by 4.4% in comparison to a reduction of 2.1% the year before.

Renewables

• In all G20 countries, the shares of renewables in total primary energy supply increased between 2017 and 2021, with Indonesia (+7.8%), the United Kingdom (+4.7%), Turkey (+3.9%), and Germany (+3%).
• The report observed the lowest increases in Saudi Arabia (+0.1%), Russia (+0.3%) and South Africa (+0.7%).

Methane

• Signatories to the COP26 Global Methane Pledge have agreed to take voluntary actions to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.
• The methane emissions increased by 1.4% between 2015 and 2019.
• Countries with the highest share of methane emissions are China, the USA, and Indonesia, which did not reduce methane emissions between 2015 and 2019.

Major findings for India

Impact of Climate Change

In India, the potential income loss in 2021 in the service industry, agriculture, manufacturing and construction sectors from labour capacity reduction due to extreme heat was USD 159 billion in 2021 or 5.4% of its GDP.

In 2021, heat exposure in India led to the loss of 167 billion potential labour hours, a 39% increase from 1990-1999.

Between 2016 and 2021, extreme weather events such as flash floods, cyclones, floods, and landslides caused damage to crops over 36 million hectares, a USD 3.75 billion loss for farmers.

About 33% of India is drought-prone, and 50% of these areas face chronic drought. Over the last few decades, these droughts have not only intensified but also increased in frequency.

Emissions Overview

India’s per capita emissions (including LULUCF) are approximately 30% of the G20 average. From 2014 to 2019, the total per capita emissions has risen by 12%. LULUCF stands for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry.

India’s total greenhouse gas emissions (excluding LULUCF) have increased by 182% from 1990 to 2019.

Between 1990 and 2019, India’s total methane emissions (excluding LULUCF) increased by 10%. The majority of India’s methane emissions came from the agriculture sector in 2019, an unchanged trend since 1990.

India did not sign the Global Methane Pledge at COP-26 in November 2021. The participating nations pledged to undertake voluntary actions to contribute to a collective reduction of global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.

The biggest driver of overall greenhouse gas emissions is CO₂ emissions from fuel combustion. Power generation is the most considerable contributor at 45%, followed by the industry and transport sectors at 31% and 12%, respectively.

Energy Overview

The fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, still dominated India’s energy mix. Fossil fuels make up 74% of India’s energy mix, around 9% lower than the G20 average.

Solar, wind, geothermal and biomass, excluding traditional biomass, account for 11.6% of India’s energy supply (the G20 average is 7.5%). In the last five years in India, from 2016-2021, the share in the total energy supply has increased by around 19.5%.

Power sector

India is the third-largest producer of electricity after China and the United States. India’s electricity generation is dominated by coal, around 72% in 2021.

In 2021, India generated around 77% of its electricity from fossil fuels, primarily coal.

The share of renewable energy has increased by around 29% in the last five years (2016-2021) to 20% (including domestic large hydro) of the power mix in 2021.

Transport sector

Emissions from the transport sector are still increasing, representing about 12% of India’s energy-related CO₂ emissions in 2021.

Industry sector

Direct and indirect emissions from the industry sector in India accounted for 30.6% and 18.7% of energy-related CO₂ emissions, respectively. Over the years, the industrial emissions intensity has declined, reflecting effective policies to improve industrial energy efficiency. In the Manufacturing sector, iron and steel industries and other non-metallic minerals account for 70% of CO₂ emissions.

Building sector

In India, direct and indirect emissions from the building sector make up 5.1% and 15.9% of total energy-related CO₂ emissions, respectively. The per capita emissions from the building sector in the country are four times lower than the G20 average.

Agriculture sector

India has the largest cattle population in the world (38%). The agricultural emissions are mainly from the Digestive process and manure of livestock, primarily cattle.

Also, being one of the largest producers of wheat and rice, the emissions from paddy filed and the use of nitrogen-based fertiliser have also contributed to emissions from the agriculture sector.

Future impacts at 1.5°C warming

• Labour productivity in India: projected to decline by 5% from the 1986-2006 reference level under 1.5°C of warming.
• Precipitation: expected to increase by 6% from the reference period of 1986-2006 at 1.5°C of warming.
• Snowfall in India: projected to decrease by 13% under 1.5°C scenarios.
• Annual expected damage from river flood: increase by 48.8% at 1.5°C of warming.
• Annual expected damage from tropical cyclone: increase by 5.7% at 1.5°C warming

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