The increasing atmospheric CO(2) over India: Comparison to global trends

Atmospheric CO(2) is the key Greenhouse Gas in terms of its global warming potential and anthropogenic sources. Therefore, it is important to analyze the changes in the concentration of atmospheric CO(2) to monitor regional and global climate change. Here, we use ground-based and satellite measurements for the 2002-2020 period to assess CO(2) over India. The average CO(2) trend over India is about 2.1 ppm/yr, and the highest trends are in agreement with the increase in total energy consumption during the period, and the highest trends are found in the areas of mines and refineries in the west and east India. The estimated CO(2) trends for India are comparable to that of global tropical and mid-latitude regions. The increasing CO(2) implies serious anthropogenic global warming and thus, calls for mitigation measures and continuous monitoring for timely policy interventions.