India’s infrastructure boom mustn’t lock in carbon emissions that we’ll live to regret later
India’s infrastructure surge risks locking in decades of emissions if low-carbon choices aren’t made now. The coming years will decide whether development accelerates sustainably or embeds a carbon burden that makes future climate goals far harder to achieve.
India’s ongoing build-up 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.
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 hardwiring 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.
External pressures reinforce our domestic logic. As the world’s second-largest cement and steel producer, Indian exports to the EU face a carbon levy from 2026. Export competitiveness increasingly depends on keeping emissions down. Importantly, local opportunities are emerging that align climate action with economic interest.
The steel industry shows how commercial logic drives change. Tata Steel’s hydrogen trials and JSW’s renewable energy expansion reflect not environmental virtue, but a recognition that carbon-intensive production is becoming commercially unsustainable.
Similarly, UltraTech and ACC are scaling blended cement production using fly ash and slag, reducing emissions and costs. These are not experimental technologies imposed by regulation, but realistic business decisions driven by resource efficiency.
India’s regulatory framework is geared for it. The Bureau of Indian Standards permits low-carbon cement blends like calcined clay composites that cut emissions by 30-40%. Waste management rules encourage recycled aggregates in construction.
The challenge is not in rule-making, but implementation. This must account for ground realities. India’s construction sector is fragmented and full of small contractors with limited technical capacity. This is an opportunity, not an obstacle. Small contractors follow specifications; they do not innovate materials. Change the specs, change the outcome.
Public works departments, the transport ministry and metro corporations control massive material flows through their standard procedures. Embedding carbon performance into these specifications can tilt the sector towards clean construction without complex compliance requirements. Procurement officers need clear guidelines, not carbon calculations.
The economics increasingly favour a transition. Low-carbon cement often costs the same or less when limestone transport is factored in. Recycled aggregates reduce material costs and waste disposal fees. Electric arc furnace steel uses 70% recycled content, and takes less capital than blast furnaces. Where advanced technologies command premiums, these reflect early-stage pricing that falls with scale.
India can avoid the retrofitting trap. Unlike rich nations replacing carbon-intensive assets, India can build clean from the start. This advantage disappears if our choices lock in high-carbon technologies for decades.
The window for clean building closes as construction picks up pace, so we must act fast. The political dynamics would support rather than hinder change, as infra quality matters as much as delivery speed to users. Using local low-carbon materials would also create jobs. States competing for industrial investment could aim for clean clusters.
We have administrative capacity constraints, but phased implementation can help. Start with large projects above ₹500 crore where technical oversight exists. Focus on proven alternatives rather than experimental tech. Use existing procurement channels; don’t increase bureaucracy. Build measurement systems gradually as local data-sets improve and contractor capabilities develop.
India’s infra boom represents both a development necessity and climate opportunity.
With proven low-carbon materials available at commercial scale and Gati Shakti enabling systematic coordination, the pieces are aligned for a clean transition that does not sacrifice speed.
India’s commitment to climate action is often discussed in terms of power sector reforms and renewable energy targets. But the future will also be decided in cement kilns, steel mills and construction sites. Infra is where development goals and climate obligations converge most visibly.
The choice is not between building infra and decarbonizing. It is between building it in ways that embed emissions irreversibly and doing it in ways that enable growth without exhausting our carbon budget.
The author is an independent expert based in New Delhi, Kolkata and Odisha. Twitter: @scurve Instagram: @soumya.scurve.
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