Achieving a cleaner environment via the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: determinants of electricity access and pollution in India

According to the IPCC report, energy remains the major contributor to global anthropogenic greenhouse emissions, due to its role in economic development. Hence, developing a conceptual tool that examines the determinants of environmental pollution for India is valuable given its population, current, and forecast energy demands. Using a national-level time series data from 1990 to 2017, Prais–Winsten and Cochrane–Orcutt regression models were used to examine the nexus between pollution and economic development in the transition from dirty to clean energy. The study confirmed the existence of a U-shaped relationship at a turning point of US$ 1802. Thus, India’s industrialised economy is energy and carbon-intensive which promotes environmental pollution. At the household level, the use of multiple fuels, especially dirty fuels, are likely to remain a key part of the sociocultural energy tradition among rural communities that will impact low carbon and cleaner energy transition. We argue that decoupling energy from economic growth can encourage clean energy transition.

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