LITTLETON, Colo. – India is set to become the world’s fastest-growing major economy in 2023, with an investment boom likely to spark sharp increases in factory output, bank lending and consumer purchases, according to a recent survey by the Indian central bank.
Climate trackers will be alarmed by such a robust outlook, as India’s power sector already spewed out near record emissions in 2022 when its economy was stuck in a lower gear, and will likely elevate pollution totals further as momentum builds.
Overall economic and industrial activity was curtailed in 2022 by a mix of parts shortages for producers, rising interest rates that slowed consumer demand, and a record weak rupee against the dollar, which made imports more expensive.
But following rapid corporate deleveraging that helped improve bank balance sheets in 2022, “the private sector is poised to increase spending, which can boost capex as and when the investment cycle picks up,” according to consultancy Deloitte in its 2023 India economic outlook.
If overall industrial activity does increase as expected in 2023, then energy use and pollution from production lines and smokestack plants across the country can also be expected to climb, undermining global efforts to reign in fossil fuel pollution.
India’s power sector emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and equivalent gases are on track for a record in 2022, according to data from think tank Ember. — Reuters
