High industrial activity in India during 1994-2007 led to an increase of 58 percent in greenhouse gas emissions, says a report by the environment ministry. According to the report titled - India’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2007 “the total annual greenhouse gas emissions grew from 1.25 billion tonnes in 1994 to 1.90 billion tonnes in 2007.”

Two countries - USA and China have the dubious distinction of being the top emitters of the world and their emissions in 2007 were almost 4 times that of India.

India now ranks 5th in aggregate GHG emissions in the world, behind USA, China, EU and Russia in 2007. The report says that most of India’s electricity comes from coal-fired power stations that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

Some of the data that the report throws up are as follows:

•    India’s power sector accounted for 719.30 million tonnes of emissions against 355.03 million tonnes in 1994.
•    The transport sector's share jumped to 142.04 million tonnes from 80.28 million tonnes during the same period.
•    Industrial emissions rose a little more than 30 per cent during 1994 to 2007.
•    Emissions in the agriculture sector dipped marginally during 1994-2007.

Read the entire report.