Nature · Sub-pillar 8.2
Energy
Secure, affordable energy, clean cooking fuel in every home, the transition to clean sources, and the emissions that come with growth.
What is energy?
Energy is sub-pillar 8.2 of the 47 BH framework for a developed Bharat by 2047, the second of five sub-pillars under the Nature pillar. It asks whether energy is secure and affordable, whether every home cooks on clean fuel, how far the transition to clean sources has gone, and what emissions come with growth.
Why it matters for 2047
Every developed country used a great deal of energy to get there. India will need far more than it uses now, for factories, cooling, transport and homes, and the question for 2047 is where it comes from, who can afford it, and what it does to the air and the climate. No other sub-pillar ties prosperity and nature so tightly together.
Clean cooking is the most intimate energy question. A woman cooking on firewood or dung breathes smoke equivalent to many cigarettes a day, and so do her children. India has given out more than ten crore gas connections to poor households; whether they are refilled and used every day is the measure that matters.
India's emissions per person are among the lowest of any large economy, and its historical contribution to warming is small. That gives it a strong claim to grow. It also gives it the chance to grow differently, on sun, wind, water and nuclear power, and to show that a billion people can become prosperous without repeating the carbon path of those who went before.
Where India stands
- 51.4%
of India's 505 GW of installed power capacity came from non-fossil sources on 31 October 2025, according to the Ministry of Power, after the share first crossed 50% in June 2025, five years ahead of the 2030 pledge; fossil fuel plants still generate most of the electricity actually used.[1]
- 22.6 hours
a day of electricity supply was the rural average in 2024-25, up from 12.5 hours in 2013-14, with urban areas at 23.4 hours, according to the Ministry of Power; 98.3% of households had electricity in 2023-24.[2][3]
- 58.6%
of households used clean cooking fuel in 2019-21, with 56.1% of rural households still cooking mainly on firewood, dung or crop waste, according to NFHS-5; the 2023-24 survey did not measure it. Ujjwala has given 10.58 crore gas connections to poor families, who refilled 4.71 cylinders each in 2025-26.[3][4]
- 2.2 tonnes
of carbon dioxide per person was India's emission in 2024, among the lowest of any major economy, with total fossil emissions of about 3.19 billion tonnes growing 1.4% in 2025 against 4% in 2024, according to the Global Carbon Project.[5]
India's power system has been transformed in a decade. Villages that had electricity for half the day now have it for nearly all of it, almost every home is connected, and half the country's generating capacity is now non-fossil, a target reached five years early. [1][2][3] Per-person emissions remain a fraction of the rich world's, and their growth is slowing. [5]
The kitchen is where the transition is least complete. Two in five households, and more than half in villages, still cooked mainly on smoky fuels at the last count; a government evaluation finds most Ujjwala families now use gas as their main fuel, but an independent survey found only a quarter of rural households using it exclusively, and the average beneficiary buys under five cylinders a year where exclusive use needs seven or eight. [3][4][6] Capacity is not generation: coal still produces most of the electricity India uses. [1]
A note on the numbers: installed capacity overstates clean electricity because solar and wind run for fewer hours than coal, so 47 BH will add the non-fossil share of generation when the Central Electricity Authority publishes an annual figure; hours of supply are averages from the distribution utilities; the clean cooking figure is from 2019-21 because NFHS-6 did not ask the question, a gap that 47 BH flags and that the next official survey should fill; the Ujjwala usage figure is a government evaluation and the CEEW survey of 2,222 rural households in six states is independent, so both are shown; emissions are from an international scientific consortium, not an Indian agency.
On the 47 BH report card
Every 15 August, 47 BH reports how far India has come on each sub-pillar. For this sub-pillar, the headline indicators are:
- Share of households using clean cooking fuel, rural and urban (NFHS or a national survey; Ujjwala refill data).
- Non-fossil share of installed capacity and of electricity generated (Ministry of Power; Central Electricity Authority).
- Hours of electricity supply, rural and urban (Ministry of Power).
- Carbon dioxide emissions per person and total (Global Carbon Project; India's national inventory).
Two lenses on energy
City and village
47 BH asks whether the village home that got a gas cylinder can afford to refill it and the city home that never cooked on wood can afford the air conditioning that heat now demands. Clean cooking is a rural question; the coming surge in electricity demand is an urban one.
Learn, avoid, protect
- Learn
- What can India learn from countries that moved whole populations to clean cooking within a decade, that built grids able to run on sun and wind for most of the day, and that priced energy so that the poor could afford it without the rich wasting it?
- Avoid
- Which mistakes should it avoid, such as celebrating capacity while coal still carries the load, letting gas connections sit unused for want of affordable refills, or building a power system for today's demand rather than for a country that will need two or three times as much?
- Protect
- What of its own should it protect, such as the frugality that keeps per-person energy use low, the solar and wind resources that make a clean grid possible, and the political consensus that reaching the poor with power comes first?
What this sub-pillar does not cover
Each topic has one home in the framework. These related topics sit elsewhere:
- Air pollution from fuels as an air quality question: Nature: Air and water
- Readiness for heat, floods and other climate disasters: Nature: Climate and disaster resilience
- Power and transport networks as infrastructure: Economy: Infrastructure
- The health effects of indoor smoke: Health: Prevention and public health
- Energy prices and household budgets: Economy: Housing and cost of living
Questions about energy
How much of India's power is clean?
51.4% of installed capacity was non-fossil on 31 October 2025, 259 GW of 505 GW, after crossing 50% in June 2025, according to the Ministry of Power. Because solar and wind run fewer hours, fossil plants still generate most of the electricity used. [1]
How many hours of electricity do Indian villages get?
An average of 22.6 hours a day in 2024-25, up from 12.5 hours in 2013-14, with urban areas at 23.4 hours, according to the Ministry of Power; 98.3% of households had electricity in 2023-24. [2][3]
How many Indian homes cook on clean fuel?
58.6% in 2019-21, with 56.1% of rural households still cooking mainly on firewood, dung or crop waste, according to NFHS-5; the 2023-24 survey did not measure it. Ujjwala has given 10.58 crore connections, refilled 4.71 times a year on average in 2025-26; an independent CEEW survey found 23% of rural households using gas exclusively. [3][4][6]
How much carbon does India emit?
About 2.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person in 2024, among the lowest of any major economy, and about 3.19 billion tonnes in total, with growth slowing to 1.4% in 2025, according to the Global Carbon Project. [5]
Why is energy a development question?
Because there is no developed country without abundant energy, and no liveable planet if a billion more people get it the old way. India's task is to do both at once, and the kitchen stove, the village grid and the solar park are where it will be decided.
Sources
- Ministry of Power, written reply in the Rajya Sabha on installed capacity by source (data as of 31 October 2025), as reported by The Week, 2 December 2025. https://www.theweek.in/news/biz-tech/2025/12/02/non-fossil-fuel-sources-now-make-more-electricity-in-india.amp.html
- Press Information Bureau, "India's Power Sector: Progress, Reform, and the Road Ahead", backgrounder, 18 March 2026. https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2026/mar/doc2026318829301.pdf
- National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21) on clean cooking fuel, and the absence of the indicator from NFHS-6 (2023-24), as reported by Down To Earth, June 2026; NFHS-6 electricity access 98.3%. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/amp/story/energy/data-on-access-to-clean-cooking-fuel-missing-from-nfhs-6-report
- Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, written reply in the Lok Sabha on Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (beneficiaries, refills, NITI Aayog evaluation), as reported by ThePrint, 24 July 2026. https://theprint.in/economy/govt-says-86-6-ujjwala-households-now-use-lpg-as-primary-fuel-defends-9-to-4-refills-subsidy-cut/2995543/
- Global Carbon Project, "Global Carbon Budget 2025", November 2025; India figures as summarised by Drishti IAS, 17 November 2025. https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/india-s-carbon-emission-growth-slows-in-2025/print_manually
- Council on Energy, Environment and Water, survey of 2,222 rural households in six states on cooking fuel (November 2024 to January 2025), as reported by Business Today, 9 September 2026. An independent research institution. https://www.businesstoday.in/india/story/lpg-connections-cross-10-5-crore-under-ujjwala-but-only-23-of-rural-households-use-it-exclusively-ceew-report-554405-2026-09-09
47 BH cites every figure so that it can be checked. If you find an error, it will be corrected openly and the date below will change.