Environmental impact analysis in input output framework with reference to energy sector in India

Abstract

In the course of any economic activity, production, circulation or consumption, any resource or material from the environment just gets converted, but does not altogether vanish or dissolve. It either gets diffused, recycled or reproduced. Consequently, such impacts on the environment can be treated as joint-products of the economic activities. For achieving the sustainable development, it is important to study the interactions among environmental and economic agents. This study aims to (i) To identify the most-pollution generating industries in India and to determine their impacts on output, air quality (environment), employment and the linkage industries. The methodology employed is an Input-Output Analysis, (ii) To define different parameters which measure the environmental and economic impacts of the economic activities. Consequently, yet another objective is to identify the need of the data and extant data gaps, (iii) To develop different scenarios of deploying renewable energy (RE) and for partial phasing out of coal from existing energy-mix on the account of its feasibility and current government policies in India. And to estimate the impacts of replacement of coal by the renewable energy sources for the electricity generation in India on the output, air quality and employment. In particular, solar, wind, hydro, and biomass energy sources, (iv) To analyse the impacts over time on the economy and the environment through a structural decomposition analysis, and (v) To illustrate a few selected studies which cover elements not addressed or described in aggregate level study to reveal some of the features of the problems newline