Road Transportation Emissions in India: Adopting a ‘Hub’ and ‘Spoke’ Approach Towards Electric-Driven Decarbonization

India is a growing market economy, and the transport sector accounts for 12% of India’s overall carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. Transport also contributes to black carbon (BC) emissions and atmospheric pollutants that are a major cause of respiratory illnesses and death. An understanding of the spatial aspects of transport emissions in India can usefully inform strategies for mitigation. The chapter examines the data around two important spatial aspects of transport emissions in India, namely cities and high-density freight corridors and some of the main policy measures deployed to address them including fuel and vehicle emission standards and modal shifts in transport. From a long-term perspective, the chapter underscores the importance of shifting towards road transport decarbonization through policies aimed at vehicle electrification and examines major policy developments and initiatives in this regard in India. It also puts forward a few considerations for policy makers with regard to deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure which will be a major challenge to overcome in order to scale-up manufacture and deployment of electric vehicles.