Dimension 1
Decarbonisation
This dimension presents a holistic view of states’ decarbonisation efforts by examining their shift to renewable electricity, utilisation of renewable energy potential, and the extent to which economic growth is decoupled from emissions. It also evaluates the integration of energy efficiency within state-level strategies, scale of government investments in renewable energy projects and renewable capacity additions in the last five financial years. Together, these parameters offer a comprehensive assessment of states’ progress towards developing a low-carbon power system.
Decarbonisation performance across states varies widely. Performance is characterised by a clear concentration effect, with only a few states emerging as strong performers across individual parameters. Importantly, no state demonstrates strong performance across all six parameters. This uneven pattern highlights substantial heterogeneity, where progress remains dispersed across parameters rather than comprehensive.
Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala stand out as high performers
Karnataka continued to be a high performer driven by strong progress across various parameters. Its high renewable energy share of approximately 37% in the total power procurement mix contributed to its relatively lower power sector emission intensity, reflecting the state’s growing green electricity portfolio. The state performed strongly in the State Energy Efficiency Index (SEEI) 2024, reflecting decisive action on energy-efficient buildings, widespread adoption of the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) 2017, and the extensive use of BEE star-labelled appliances and green building practices. Karnataka also showed moderate momentum in its average of annual renewable energy capacity growth rate over the past five financial years (FY2021–25), averaging 5% growth with a total installed capacity of 24GW. Moreover, as of March 2025, Karnataka had utilised only 4% of its wind and 39% of its solar potential, leaving about 88% of its total renewable energy potential untapped.
Himachal Pradesh, a hydropower-dominated state, had the highest renewable energy share (~65%) in its overall power procurement mix and the lowest power sector emissions intensity, despite utilising its renewable energy potential only moderately at around 22%. Hence, it placed among the top three states in this dimension. It saw limited average of annual renewable energy capacity growth rate of 4.4% between FY2021 and FY2025 and scored low in SEEI 2024 with limited state expenditure on renewable energy and associated power system infrastructure.
Kerala excelled because of its low power sector emission intensity, high renewable energy potential utilisation (31%), and its performance in SEEI 2024. Its renewable potential utilisation as of March 2025 was the third highest after Punjab (38%) and Haryana (35%) among the 21 states considered, while its renewable energy share accounted for 21% of the total power procured for FY2024. Kerala also had the second-lowest power sector emission intensity among the 21 states. An average annual renewable energy capacity growth rate of around 11% over the past five financial years further strengthened the state’s position under this dimension. Kerala has adopted initiatives like the State Energy Conservation Awards and the Kerala State Energy Conservation Fund to encourage energy efficiency across sectors. And though its SEEI 2024 score declined compared to previous years, Kerala showed appreciable untapped renewable energy potential (69%) as of March 2025, offering scope for further growth.
Rajasthan had the highest annual renewable energy capacity growth rate of 26% over the past five financial years. The share of renewables in its power purchase mix stood at 25%. With only about 8% of its significantly higher renewable energy potential utilised as of March 2025, Rajasthan has room to scale up renewable energy deployment and lower its power sector emission intensity. The state also has substantial scope to improve its energy efficiency efforts.
Maharashtra, another high performer in this dimension, showed remarkable improvement in SEEI 2024, overtaking Karnataka. This progress was driven by industrial advancements and DISCOM-led energy efficiency efforts, followed by improvements in the buildings and transport sectors. The state added a substantial 9.6GW of renewable energy capacity (including large hydro) between FY2021 and FY2025, leading to an average annual renewable energy capacity growth rate of about 12%. However, despite this progress, the state still has significant opportunities to better utilise its renewable energy potential (of which only 9% has been tapped), increase the share of renewables in its overall power procurement mix (which stands at around 16%), and further lower its power sector emission intensity.
Tamil Nadu tapped a significant share of its renewable energy potential but still has scope to increase the renewable share (~17% in FY2024) in its overall power procurement mix. The state performed well on the power sector emissions intensity parameter and recorded remarkable improvement in SEEI 2024 versus SEEI 2023.
Punjab utilised its renewable energy potential to a large extent but given the limited renewable resource base within the state, the share of renewables in its overall power procurement remained significantly lower.
Haryana, Gujarat and Uttarakhand on the rise
Haryana, positioned mid-table, utilised 35% of its renewable energy potential and consistently added renewable energy capacity, recording an average annual growth rate of 11% over the past five financial years. Despite the state’s limited potential, Haryana’s renewable energy share in overall power purchase remained moderate at 26%. However, the state recorded a comparatively lower SEEI 2024 score despite having its State Energy Efficiency Action Plan in place since September 2023.
Gujarat maintained momentum under the renewable energy capacity addition parameter. The state has seen an average annual renewable energy growth rate of 23% for the past five financial years. However, it still has considerable scope to strengthen its energy efficiency efforts and increase the share of renewable energy (~14%) in its overall power purchase (a parameter of significant weightage in this dimension), given that only about 15% of its renewable energy potential has been utilised as of March 2025. Strengthening these efforts will directly translate into lower power sector emissions intensity for the state. Gujarat released its State Energy Efficiency Action Plan in October 2024, focusing on the industry, agriculture, domestic and commercial buildings, and transport sectors.
Uttarakhand, also positioned mid-table, benefited from its geographical advantages, which enable a higher reliance on hydroelectric power, resulting in around 44% renewable energy in the total power procurement mix in FY2024. This contributed to the state’s relatively low power sector emissions intensity. However, the state has considerable room to strengthen energy efficiency efforts, especially in buildings, industry and transport sectors through capacity building, and policy intervention with financial incentives for energy efficiency measures and developing sector-specific programmes. It can also explore its untapped renewable energy potential (~84%) to position itself as a supplier of renewable energy to other states.
Andhra Pradesh continued to demonstrate strong performance in SEEI 2024, driven by progress in industry, DISCOM-led efficiency measures, and improvements in the buildings and transport sectors. The state mandates Investment Grade Energy Audits (IGEA) for large industries and has implemented cluster-level interventions in jewellery, food processing, and pharmaceuticals, saving 0.67 million units (MUs) annually and cutting 0.54 million tonnes of CO₂. However, the state had utilised only ~7% of its renewable energy potential as of March 2025 and had a limited share of renewable energy (~22%) in the overall power procurement mix in FY2024.
Chhattisgarh’s performance presented a contrasting picture across parameters. Its average annual renewable energy capacity growth rate stood at 21%, adding around 1.2GW, over the past five financial years. However, it continued to rely heavily on conventional sources, reflected in its power procurement mix, with renewables accounting for only about 10% of total procurement in FY2024. Despite recent renewable capacity additions, a significant share of the state’s renewable energy potential remained underutilised at around 92% as of March 2025. Public expenditure on renewable energy was relatively higher compared to several other states, but it did not translate into overall power sector decarbonisation.
Uttar Pradesh and Assam’s performance in renewable energy capacity additions remained subdued with limited capacity added over the past five financial years. This was directly reflected in the lower renewable energy shares in their power procurement mix, at 19% and 18%, respectively, in FY2024. This also highlighted the two states’ underutilised renewable energy potential, standing at 19% and 4% as of March 2025, respectively. These states have also invested moderately in the new and renewable energy sector over the past five financial years compared with other states included in the analysis. On the SEEI 2024 front, their performance remained moderate.
Delhi, Telangana, and Bihar show high improvement potential
Delhi, despite having limited renewable energy potential, had 24% of renewable energy in the overall power procurement mix in FY2024, contributing to its lower power sector emissions intensity. However, its overall performance was affected by a low SEEI 2024 score, highlighting a need to integrate energy efficiency measures in its strategies. To address this, Delhi released its State Energy Efficiency Action Plan in September 2024, focusing on building, industry and transport sectors.
Further, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana made limited progress across all parameters and remained low-scoring states in this dimension. In FY2024, Madhya Pradesh had approximately 23% renewable energy share in its power procurement while Telangana had 14%. As of March 2025, the renewable energy potential utilisation remained below 10% for both states. Madhya Pradesh showed moderate performance in renewable energy capacity additions while Telangana’s performance under this parameter remained muted. As a result, Madhya Pradesh recorded weak performance on the power sector emissions intensity parameter while Telangana performed moderately. On the energy efficiency front, Telangana performed moderately, while a lower SEEI 2024 score affected the overall performance of Madhya Pradesh.
Bihar’s utilisation of renewable energy potential (~3%) remained subdued with its share of renewable energy in power procurement being 18%. This presents a clear opportunity for improvement. In addition, the state had a lower average annual growth rate of renewable capacity as compared to other analysed states. It exhibited moderate power sector emissions intensity. Despite having a State Energy Efficiency Action Plan, Bihar still has scope to improve on the energy efficiency front.
West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha, the eastern states, are in the early stages of their decarbonisation journeys and, hence, emerged as the states with the most scope for enhancement across all parameters. West Bengal and Jharkhand showed considerable scope to increase their share of renewables in their power procurement mix, which stood at 7% and 8%, respectively, in FY2024. For this, these states could tap into their underutilised renewable energy potential, which stood at only 20% and 2%, respectively, as of FY2025. Public expenditure on renewable energy will play a critical role in supporting this transition and ensuring long-term energy security, stable economic growth and new employment opportunities. At the same time, both states will need to strengthen their efforts to improve performance on the energy efficiency front. Despite having a State Energy Efficiency Action Plan since March 2023, West Bengal is yet to demonstrate reflective progress in its SEEI 2024. In contrast, encouragingly, Jharkhand released its own State Energy Efficiency Action Plan in January 2025.
Odisha remained heavily reliant on thermal power due to legacy coal-based infrastructure, the local availability of coal, and a workforce dependent on thermal power plants. Similar to West Bengal and Jharkhand, renewables currently form a relatively small share of Odisha’s power mix (11% in FY2024), but the state has substantial untapped renewable energy potential (only ~7% utilised as of March 2025). Accelerating renewable capacity additions could help diversify the power mix and lower power-sector emission intensity over time. To achieve this, these states can direct greater investment towards renewable energy infrastructure and strengthen its decarbonisation efforts. Additionally, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) sanctioned around USD0.33 billion (INR30 billion) for green energy projects across the state, covering solar, hydro, and ethanol.
Changes compared with SET 2024
Note: In this assessment year, no major changes have been made in this dimension. However, a further nuanced mode of measurement has been adopted for the recent additions of renewable energy capacity parameter, and its name changed to “renewable energy capacity additions”. This adjustment (captured in Annexure 1) aims to capture the growth rate of renewable energy capacity addition over the last five years. In addition, the scope of installed capacity has been widened to include large hydro, both for calculating utilised renewable energy potential and for assessing the average growth of renewable energy additions.
Noticeable movement was observed in the performance of several states under this dimension for this assessment year compared to the previous assessment period (SET 2024). Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra showed significant improvement in overall performance. In contrast, the performance of states, including Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat, declined considerably. Both improvement and declines in states’ performances reflect the impact of the recalibrated mode of measurement for the capacity addition parameter, as well as the inclusion of hydro capacity in the analysis.
Karnataka continued to be the top performer in this dimension, showcasing consistent leadership in decarbonisation efforts. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Rajasthan experienced upward movement with a remarkable improvement in SEEI 2024 scores. Additionally, the change in the mode of measurement of renewable energy capacity addition parameter contributed significantly to Chhattisgarh’s upward movement.
Conversely, despite seeing continuous growth in renewable capacity addition, Gujarat’s overall performance was negatively impacted due to its subpar performance under SEEI 2024. Similarly, Haryana’s decline was driven by its SEEI 2024 performance despite improvements in renewable energy share in power procurement. Telangana’s performance under this dimension saw the steepest decline, primarily due to a change in the mode of measurement of renewable energy capacity additions, along with a decline in renewable energy share in total procurement mix and a slight dip in the SEEI 2024 score. Similarly, Andhra Pradesh’s performance also declined, resulting from decline in its utilised renewable energy potential and power sector emissions intensity scores.
The overall performance of Delhi, Punjab, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand remained almost unchanged in comparison with SET 2024.
