India claimed to be a front-runner among developing nations for emissions disclosure today with its first national survey of greenhouse gases in more than a decade.

The government study based on 2007 data showed a sharp increase in industrial activity since the last assessment in 1994 has made India the world's fifth biggest emitter after China, the US, Europe and Russia.

Since then, emissions from electricity, cement and waste have more than doubled, in addition to substantial rises in the transport and residential sectors.

According to the latest inventory, India relied on coal for 90% of its electricity, which accounts for more than a third of the country's emissions. However, despite rapid economic growth, the report notes that India's emissions are about a quarter of those from China and the United States.

Its carbon intensity – emissions relative to economic output – fell by 30% between the two reporting periods.

In a foreword to the report, the environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, said India would publish its emissions inventory every two years from now on, thereby setting an example of transparency for developing nations.

The study could provide a model and a stimulus for China to put in place a system of greenhouse gas monitoring and regular disclosure.

India will next turn its attention towards a detailed study of the impacts of climate change. This week's report noted that heavy rainfalls have become more frequent in the past 50 years and average temperatures in India have risen by 0.4C.

"The continuous warming and the changing rainfall pattern over the Indian region may jeopardise India's development by adversely impacting the natural resources such as water forests, coastal zones, and mountains on which more than 70% of the rural population is dependent," it notes.

(The Guardian, 25/05/2010)