CEA All-India Grid Emission Factor — Latest Value, 5-Year Trend, and Scope 2 Application (V21.0)

Latest CEA all-India grid emission factor

Per the CEA CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector Version 21.0 (published 2025-11-01, covering reporting year FY 2024-25), the all-India weighted-average grid emission factor including renewable and captive generation, excluding inter-grid imports, is 0.7117 tCO₂/MWh. This is the value commonly applied as the location-based Scope 2 factor for entities operating across multiple Indian regions, per the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard methodology.

The CEA database publishes five distinct emission factor variants for each reporting year, plus an “including imports” version of each. The applicable variant depends on the calculation purpose (corporate Scope 2 reporting, CDM project accounting, RE project accounting).

All five emission factor variants — FY 2024-25

The table below shows the five CEA-published variants for FY 2024-25, in both the excluding imports and including imports versions. Excluding-imports figures are the more commonly cited values for corporate Scope 2 accounting; the including-imports versions adjust for inter-grid power transfers (using the operating margin of the exporting grid, with imports from outside India treated as zero-emission per the CDM tool methodology).

Variant	Excluding imports (tCO₂/MWh)	Including imports (tCO₂/MWh)
Weighted Average Emission Rate	0.8337	0.8308
Weighted Average Grid Emission Rate (incl. RES + Captive)	0.7117	0.7097
Simple Operating Margin	0.9646	0.9609
Build Margin	0.5119	0.5119
Combined Margin	0.7383	0.7364

Methodology basis: CDM methodology ACM0002 / Ver 22.0 + UNFCCC Tool to Calculate the Emission Factor for an Electricity System, Version 7.0 (per CEA V21.0 User Guide).

5-year trend — weighted-average grid emission rate (incl. RES + Captive, excl. imports)

The headline factor commonly applied for Scope 2 reporting has moved as follows across CEA editions:

Reporting year	Weighted-avg grid EF (incl. RES + Captive) tCO₂/MWh	Year-on-year movement
2020-21	0.7026	baseline
2021-22	0.7152	+1.8%
2022-23	0.7191	+0.5%
2023-24	0.7290	+1.4%
2024-25	0.7117	−2.4%

The 2024-25 decline interrupts the multi-year increase. Two structural drivers visible in the underlying CEA data: (a) net renewable generation rose from 225,830 GWh in 2023-24 to 255,009 GWh in 2024-25 (+13%), and (b) the Build Margin (capacity additions in recent years) fell sharply — 0.8667 in 2022-23 to 0.5119 in 2024-25 — reflecting the renewable-heavy character of new capacity additions to the Indian grid.

What this factor covers — scope and methodology notes

The weighted-average grid emission rate (incl. RES + Captive) covers:

• All grid-connected thermal generation (coal, lignite, gas, diesel, naphtha) reported by 2,818 grid-connected power stations in V21.0
• Renewable energy generation (solar, wind, biomass, small hydro) is included in the denominator (net generation) at zero emissions, lowering the factor proportional to RE share
• Captive power injected into the grid is included
• Imports from other Indian regional grids are excluded in the headline figure; the “including imports” variants apply the exporting grid’s operating margin
• Imports from neighbouring countries are treated as zero-emission per the CDM tool methodology

The factor does NOT cover:

• Off-grid captive generation (consumed entirely behind-the-meter)
• Renewable energy certificates (RECs) — those are addressed separately under GHG Protocol’s market-based method (Scope 2 Guidance)
• Behind-the-meter rooftop solar consumed at the generation site

Regional breakdown

CEA V21.0 publishes only the all-India aggregate factor; regional breakdowns are not included in V21.0’s headline tables. Computed from the plant-level Data sheet by aggregating each plant to its applicable regional grid (per the CEA standard 5-grid mapping):

Regional grid	Computed EF 2024-25 (tCO₂/MWh)	States covered	Plants
Northern Grid	0.7335	J&K, HP, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, UP, Uttarakhand, Ladakh	756
Western Grid	0.8900	Gujarat, Maharashtra, MP, Chhattisgarh, Goa	644
Southern Grid	0.8086	AP, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Puducherry, Lakshadweep	721
Eastern Grid	0.9280	Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Sikkim	383
North-Eastern Grid	0.4285	Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh	157

The regional spread is wide — Eastern grid (coal-heavy) sits at 0.9280 while North-Eastern (hydro-dominant) is at 0.4285. Entities with operations concentrated in a single region commonly disclose the applicable regional factor alongside the all-India figure for transparency. Per-region factors are computed by Batchwise from the CEA plant-level data — they are not directly published by CEA in V21.0.

Scope 2 calculation — worked example

For an entity with FY 2024-25 grid electricity consumption of 10,000 MWh:

Location-based method (per GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance):

Scope 2 emissions = consumption × applicable emission factor
                  = 10,000 MWh × 0.7117 tCO₂/MWh
                  = 7,117 tCO₂e

Market-based method (per GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance):

If the entity has procured 3,000 MWh through PPAs / RECs backed by renewable energy with a contractual emission factor of zero, the market-based calculation is:

Renewable-procured: 3,000 MWh × 0 tCO₂/MWh = 0 tCO₂e
Residual grid:      7,000 MWh × residual mix factor
                  = 7,000 × residual mix factor

The residual mix factor is not directly published by CEA; entities applying the market-based method commonly use either (a) the CEA all-India factor as a conservative proxy, or (b) a derived residual mix calculation if the data is available. The methodology applied should be documented and disclosed.

When to use which factor — BRSR Core context

Common practice patterns observed in BRSR / GHG inventory engagements:

• Multi-region operating entity: the CEA all-India weighted-average grid EF (incl. RES + Captive) is commonly applied across all locations as a single factor
• Single-region entity: the applicable regional grid factor (computed from CEA plant data per region) may be used where the entity has documented its location-based boundary at the regional level
• Entity with material RE procurement: dual reporting is commonly observed — location-based using CEA factor + market-based using procurement contracts, per GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance
• Year-on-year comparability: some entities apply a fixed-year CEA factor (e.g., the FY 2020-21 baseline) for trend analysis, while disclosing the latest factor for current-year reporting. The fixed-year approach is documented as a methodology choice, not a SEBI requirement.

The choice of variant + reporting year + averaging convention is the entity’s documented methodology call, not a SEBI-prescribed methodology. The choice should be applied consistently year-on-year and disclosed in the methodology footnote of the BRSR submission.

For the underlying BRSR Core attribute calculation, see the GHG emission intensity per revenue methodology page.

Comparison to international grid factors (context)

For context, the CEA all-India 2024-25 factor of 0.7117 tCO₂/MWh sits in the typical range for coal-heavy emerging economy grids. Published reference points (third-party sources, not CEA):

• China (national grid, 2023): commonly cited at 0.55-0.58 tCO₂/MWh range (declining as renewables share grows)
• US (national grid, 2023): EPA eGRID published at ~0.37 tCO₂/MWh
• EU-27 (2023): commonly cited at 0.20-0.24 tCO₂/MWh range (high RE + nuclear share)

The Indian grid factor reflects continued coal-dominant baseload generation (~70% of net generation in 2024-25) with growing renewable contribution. The trajectory toward lower factors is structural — RES capacity additions have outpaced thermal additions in recent years.

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Where Batchwise fits (service description — separate from the regulatory data above)

The sections above describe the regulatory and authoritative data for the CEA all-India grid emission factor — content that any entity preparing a Scope 2 inventory or BRSR Core submission would reference regardless of tooling.

The section below describes Batchwise’s service in this workflow.

Batchwise is a workflow and data-preparation service layered over the BRSR / Scope 2 calculation framework — not part of the framework itself. The entity remains responsible for the BRSR submission, the Scope 2 inventory, and any sign-off; the partner CA firm remains responsible for the assurance opinion.

In practice, Batchwise’s role for entities applying the CEA factor includes:

• Multi-location utility-bill aggregation — supporting structured aggregation of monthly utility bills across the entity’s facility portfolio for consistent Scope 2 calculation
• Methodology documentation support — supporting the entity’s methodology footnote (which factor variant, which reporting year, which averaging convention)
• BRSR Core assurance coordination — operational support for partner CA firm engagement scoping and coordination

The signed BRSR is the entity’s submission, signed by the entity’s authorised signatory under the entity’s authorised-signatory DSC. The assurance opinion is the partner CA firm’s, on the partner CA firm’s letterhead, under the partner CA firm’s signing partner’s DSC.

Related reading

• CEA Grid Emission Factors (pillar) — the methodology context for all CEA factor variants
• Regional factor pages: Northern, Western, Southern, Eastern, North-Eastern
• GHG Emission Intensity per Revenue — the BRSR Core attribute that consumes this factor
• NGRBC Principle 6 — Environment — the principle pillar
• Scope 3 Emissions for Service Companies — adjacent Scope 3 methodology
• Audit Evidence Documentation for BRSR — working-paper discipline including utility-bill evidence
• BRSR Core Assurance Service — engagement scope including Scope 2 verification