SILIGURI GHG EMISSIONS INVENTORY 2018-19

The GHG Emission Inventory accounts for greenhouse gas emission from fossil fuels and electricity consumed in the city through various activities like stationary fuel combustion, electricity consumption, burning of firewood, coal and charcoal, and municipal solid waste degradation. The values of GHG emission are mentioned in terms of tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e). The present GHG inventory is prepared for the period 2011-12 to 2015-16 to analyse the overall trend of GHG emissions in city.

Siliguri is a rapidly developing metropolis in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the commercial nerve centre of North Bengal, having a large number of trade centres and readymade markets for consumer goods which makes it the home to many retailers, wholesalers, dealers, distributors and small-scale entrepreneurs. As estimated in our study, the total GHG emissions from Siliguri was 1.5 million tCO₂e in the year 2018-19.  Taking this into consideration, the average per capita GHG emission for the year 2018-19 for Siliguri is 2 tCO₂e. 

With 44% of total GHG emissions, Transportation Sector has the maximum contribution to the city’s emissions, followed by the Residential Sector’s contribution of 26%. The Municipal Waste, Commercial/Institutional, and Manufacturing Industry and Construction Sectors contribute 15%, 13% and 2% respectively to the overall GHG emissions at the Community level (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Sector-wise GHG emission in Siliguri, 2018-19

14 million GJ of energy was consumed by the different sectors of Siliguri in the year 2018-19. The On-road Transportation Sector consumed the maximum amount of energy in Siliguri with its share amounting to 62% of total energy consumption, followed by the Residential Sector’s consumption of 26% of total energy in Siliguri, Commercial/Institutional Sector’s 10%, and Manufacturing Industry and Construction Sector’s consumption of 2% (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Sector-wise Energy consumption in Siliguri, 2018-19

Diesel use accounted for 53% of energy consumption and correspondingly for 44% of GHG emissions in Siliguri in 2018-19. Electricity consumption accounted for 11% of energy use but correspondingly accounts for 29% of GHG emissions. Gasoline and LPG consumption accounts for 15% and 20% of energy use respectively, but accounted for 12% and 14% of GHG emissions respectively (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Source-wise supply side energy consumption in Siliguri, 2018-19

With emissions amounting to 14,946 tCO2e, operations of Siliguri Municipal Corporation contributed to 1% of the city’s total GHG emission in 2018-19. Water Supply and Streetlights Service has been the largest contributor to municipal GHG emissions with a share of 45% and 38% respectively. (Figure 4). The total energy consumption through municipal operations amounted to 84,518 GJ of energy, which was 0.6% of the total energy used in Siliguri.

Figure 4: GHG emissions due to local government activities in Siliguri, 2018-19