Residential rooftop solar helps households generate electricity at the point of consumption, reducing pressure on the grid while contributing to India's clean energy and Net Zero goals. During India's peak electricity demand of 270.7 GW on 21 May 2026, solar energy contributed about 22 per cent of the country's power needs.

Based on the survey findings, rooftop solar adopters in India are experiencing an average bill reduction of ~71 per cent, which amounts to more than INR Three Lakh savings in electricity bills over the lifespan of the system (25 years).

The report finds that the largest opportunity lies in helping households move from interest to action. Many households are aware of rooftop solar and willing to adopt it, but face challenges related to information, procedural complexity, trusted guidance, and financing awareness. Among all the households that are aware of residential rooftop solar, only 52 per cent are aware of the national scheme on RTS, Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.

The study was conducted through a telephonic survey of 17,094 households across 21 states and 1 union territory, representing 98 per cent of India's population, making it one of the largest consumer-focused studies on residential RTS conducted post PMSGY in India.

Current adoption is concentrated among affluent urban households with elevated electricity consumption. However, the study identifies substantial untapped demand across other household segments, alongside high satisfaction levels regarding electricity bill savings and overall rooftop solar performance across all categories.

Rooftop solar adoption is primarily facilitated by the PM Surya Ghar scheme, which offers capacity-based subsidies alongside low-interest, collateral-free financing for consumers requiring additional financial support. Additionally, a few states provide supplementary state-level subsidies and incentives to further accelerate adoption.

The survey highlights the importance of trust-based outreach and peer learning. Government departments are the most trusted source of information for 71 per cent of households, while over 90 per cent of adopters report positive experiences and 87 per cent are willing to recommend their vendors. Leveraging trusted institutions and satisfied adopters can help convert awareness into large-scale adoption.

The organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) includes kitchen waste, market waste (vegetables, fruits, meat, and flowers), and horticulture waste. It constitutes roughly 50 per cent of all MSW generated in Indian cities. Effective management of OFMSW can halve the overall waste burden, recover valuable resources such as biogas and compost, reduce methane emissions, and improve the quality of other recyclable materials like paper and plastic.

The two primary methods are composting and biomethanation. Composting converts organic waste into nutrient-rich compost that can substitute chemical fertilisers. Biomethanation is an anaerobic process that produces biogas (and, when purified further, compressed biogas or CBG), which can be used for cooking, electricity generation, or as a transport fuel.

The report models three scenarios for India by 2047. The Business-as-Usual (BAU) scenario assumes the current situation, with 90 per cent waste collection and only half the waste processed. The Accelerated Policy Scenario (APS) targets full collection and 95 per cent processing, with an equal split between composting and biomethanation. The Ambitious Green Transition Scenario (AGTS) assumes 100 per cent collection and processing, with a greater emphasis on biomethanation (66 per cent) over composting (34 per cent).

The report identifies six key challenge areas: weak enforcement of waste management rules and delays in project approvals; technology mismatches and feedstock quality issues due to poor source segregation; limited financial capacity of urban local bodies and challenges in attracting private investment; staff shortages and low technical capacity within municipalities; lack of up-to-date waste data, i.e., waste characterisation; and low public awareness and the "not in my backyard" (NIMBY) effect when setting up treatment plants.

Source segregation, which means separating the wet (organic) waste from the dry waste at the household level, forms the foundation of the entire system of organic waste management. Without clean, segregated feedstock, both composting and biomethanation plants underperform or fail in the long run. Cities like Indore have demonstrated that nearly 100 per cent source segregation is achievable and directly enables high-quality end products and financially viable plants. Poor segregation is cited as one of the most common reasons plants become defunct.

The economic potential varies significantly depending on policy ambition. The accelerated policy scenario could unlock a USD 50.6 billion market and mobilise USD 24.3 billion in investment by 2047, while creating the highest number of direct jobs at 2.6 million. The ambitious green transition scenario unlocks an even larger market of USD 61.5 billion and USD 30.2 billion in investment, but generates fewer direct jobs at 1.9 million, as biomethanation is more automated and capital-intensive than composting.

The waste sector overall is currently one of the fastest-growing contributors to India's greenhouse gas emissions, having grown by 226 per cent between 1994 and 2020. Under a business-as-usual approach, emissions from the organic waste could reach nearly 120 MtCO2e by 2047. Under the accelerated policy scenario and the ambitious green transition scenario, the sector could achieve net-negative emissions of 67.5 MtCO2e and 100.5 MtCO2e, respectively. This is achieved by diverting waste away from dumpsites and using end-products such as biogas and compost to displace fossil fuels in sectors like transport and industry, and reduce dependence on chemical fertilisers in agriculture.

CO₂ is captured at the source (such as a power plant or steel mill), compressed to a supercritical state above its critical temperature and pressure, and transported through dedicated pipelines to a storage site. In the supercritical state, CO₂ behaves as a compressible fluid, enabling efficient high-volume transport. The pipeline network consists of large-diameter trunk pipelines, carrying CO₂ from major source areas to major sink areas, and smaller-diameter spur pipelines, connecting individual sources or sinks to the trunk pipelines. Pumping stations are installed at regular intervals (typically every 150 km) to maintain pressure throughout the system.

Right-of-way (RoW) refers to the legal authorisation granted to a project to build and maintain infrastructure on a continuous strip of land. In India, obtaining RoW for a new pipeline requires land acquisition, compensation negotiations with landowners, and regulatory approvals across multiple jurisdictions, often delaying projects by several years. Obtaining permissions to lay pipelines through forest areas, defence lands, coastal regulation zones, and government-owned lands can each take a year or more. This study proposes using the existing RoW of NG pipelines to lay new CO₂ pipelines in parallel, which would significantly reduce these barriers.

This study estimates that the cost of transporting CO₂ through a pipeline network using the RoW of existing NG pipelines ranges from USD 0.70 to USD 4.19 per tonne of CO₂, depending on the emission sources included and the storage sites used. Saline aquifer-only scenarios are the least expensive (USD 0.70–2.16 per tonne), while basalt-only scenarios are the most expensive (USD 2.89–4.19 per tonne). These transport costs are relatively low compared with capture costs, which typically range from USD 30 to USD 100 per tonne, and represent a small fraction of the total CCS chain cost.

Several regulatory and policy actions are required. First, India currently lacks a national CCS policy, and identifying the ministry that will own the mandate is a crucial first step. Second, the Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Act, 1962, needs to be amended to allow CO₂ pipelines to use existing NG and petroleum pipeline RoWs, and to enable the acquisition of new RoW for CO₂ pipelines. Third, a regulatory authority needs to be established to oversee infrastructure development and safeguard public interests. Finally, an assessment of how much of the existing RoW across NG, crude oil, and petroleum product pipelines can accommodate new CO₂ pipelines is urgently required.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a technology that captures CO₂ emissions from industrial facilities or power plants, compresses them into a supercritical state, and transports them through pipelines to underground geological formations for permanent storage. Suitable storage formations include saline aquifers, basalt formations, and depleted oil and gas fields. CCS is widely recognised as an essential tool for achieving net-zero emissions, particularly for sectors where alternative decarbonisation pathways are limited or prohibitively expensive.

India has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2070. However, the energy transition will take several decades, during which fossil fuel-based power plants and heavy industries will continue to emit CO₂. CCS is essential for addressing these residual emissions, particularly from hard-to-abate sectors such as iron and steel, cement, and aluminium, where process emissions cannot be fully eliminated through energy efficiency or renewable energy alone. CEEW modelling indicates that CCS could reduce India’s economic losses by 23 per cent between 2030 and 2050 and by 32 per cent between 2050 and 2100, and could mitigate nearly 60 per cent of emissions from these sectors.

CCS involves permanently storing captured CO₂ in deep geological formations underground, while carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) converts captured CO₂ into useful products such as fuels, chemicals, or construction materials. CCS is generally more cost-effective for large-scale emissions reduction, since underground storage is significantly cheaper than the processes required for utilisation. However, CCU can offer economic co-benefits through the sale of derived products. Both approaches are complementary, and India’s decarbonisation pathway may need to deploy both, with CCS handling the bulk of industrial and power sector emissions.

India has three main types of onshore geological formations suitable for CO₂ storage. Saline aquifers (144 GtCO₂ capacity) are geographically widespread and are the least expensive storage option due to their proximity to emission sources. Basalt formations (170 GtCO₂ capacity) are concentrated primarily in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and adjoining states. Oil and gas fields and coal formations have a comparatively limited storage potential. Together, India’s total onshore storage potential is estimated at approximately 317 GtCO₂, which far exceeds the country’s projected cumulative emissions over the coming decades.

Basalt formations have a unique geochemical property: when CO₂ is injected into basalt, it reacts with the rock to form solid mineral carbonates over time, a process known as mineral carbonation. This converts the gaseous CO₂ into a stable solid form, virtually eliminating the risk of long-term leakage. Although transport costs to basalt formations are higher due to their geographic concentration, the significantly lower post-injection monitoring and leakage-risk costs may make basalt storage more economical over the full project lifecycle.

Hard-to-abate sectors are industries in which decarbonisation is technically difficult or prohibitively expensive using current technologies. These include iron and steel, cement, aluminium, and chemicals. A large share of their emissions arises from chemical processes rather than from energy use alone, meaning that switching to renewable energy does not eliminate these process emissions. CCS is currently one of the few viable options for addressing process emissions at scale. India’s iron and steel and cement plants alone account for approximately 480 million tonnes of CO₂ per annum that could potentially be captured and stored underground.