4.1 Conclusions:
As it can be clearly seen, the carbon footprint of urban individuals is higher than that of the rural
individuals. The average carbon footprint in rural areas is estimated to be 0.85 tonnes CO2e per capita per
year and in urban areas it is 2.5 tonnes CO2e per capita per year. Among all the sources, cooking fuel
(36%) is the biggest contributor to the rural carbon footprint whereas in the urban areas, electricity (33%)
and travel (35%) are the major contributors. Long distance travel (including Air Travel) and high
percentage of personal vehicle usage in the urban areas result in much higher carbon footprint as
compared to the rural areas. The cooking fuel in rural areas is mostly wood which is inefficiently used in
the traditional cook-stoves. So, cooking fuel is the single largest contributor to carbon footprint in rural
areas whereas, it is very negligible in the urban carbon footprint. The amount of wood used can be
substantially reduced by switching to the efficient cooking practices. The rural carbon footprint will go
down by 250 kg of CO2e per capita per year (~30%) if we assume the firewood to be CO2 neutral. The
carbon footprint per capita due to the cell-phone usage is much higher in urban areas and thus it forms a
significant part of the carbon footprint in case of the urban areas as compared to the rural areas where the
cell-phone usage is limited.
4.2 Solutions:
It is a well-known fact that India's carbon footprint has rose significantly over the past few years
owing to the economic growth of the country. The huge population of the country though has kept the per
capita carbon footprint within respected limits.
4.3 Future Scope:
This study can be helpful in designing a transparent carbon calculator which will be specific for Indian
situations and locations. Also for better results, the sample size of the survey could be increased by
covering more number of households in various socio economic classes and also extending to covering
more villages and cities.