IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v27y2025i5d10.1007_s10668-023-04325-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Differential carbon footprint resulting from cooking fuels: a cross-sectional study in rural and urban setup of Kalyani Region, District Nadia, West Bengal

Author

Listed:
  • Madhushree Dey

    (Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya)

  • Rajesh Kumar Gautam

    (Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya)

  • Aribam Bijayasundari Devi

    (Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya)

Abstract

In the multifaceted spectrum of cooking fuel preferences, the household choices play a pivotal role in GHG emission. Hence, the present study explores the dynamics of consumption of varied cooking fuels and their corresponding carbon footprints among the Indian households. To achieve the goal, data were collected from 610 households of the Kalyani region of West Bengal using a semi-structured interview schedule. It was found that rural households emit higher CO2e (662.77 kg) annually than the urban (491.54 kg). Rural households predominantly rely on traditional-biomass (firewood/cow-dung) and transitional (kerosene) fuels while urban households use modern fuels largely, e.g. LPG and electricity. Fuel stacking behaviour was observed among the rural households. Regression analysis reveals that fuel choices and carbon footprints are impacted by a range of factors: income, standard of living, household size, education, etc. Hence, it can be inferred that cooking fuel consumption is multifactorial. To promote sustainability, future efforts should focus on the adoption of clean/green fuel, cost reduction, and raising awareness about efficient fuel use. Achieving sustainable cooking practices also requires strategies that address accessibility, affordability, poverty reduction, employment opportunities, and equitable resource access. Furthermore, harnessing solar energy for cooking/lighting may offer a promising avenue for sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Madhushree Dey & Rajesh Kumar Gautam & Aribam Bijayasundari Devi, 2025. "Differential carbon footprint resulting from cooking fuels: a cross-sectional study in rural and urban setup of Kalyani Region, District Nadia, West Bengal," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(5), pages 10629-10653, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:27:y:2025:i:5:d:10.1007_s10668-023-04325-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-023-04325-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-023-04325-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10668-023-04325-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Korkeakoski Mika & Mentula Minna & Vähäkari Noora & Luukkanen Jyrki & Kaivo-oja Jari & Alexeeva Anna & Chea Eliyan & Va Dany & Kallio Maarit & Hogarth Nicholas, 2021. "Situation analysis of energy use and consumption in Cambodia: household access to energy," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(12), pages 18631-18655, December.
    2. Akpalu, Wisdom & Dasmani, Isaac & Aglobitse, Peter B., 2011. "Demand for cooking fuels in a developing country: To what extent do taste and preferences matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 6525-6531, October.
    3. Chattopadhyay, Mriduchhanda & Arimura, Toshi H. & Katayama, Hajime & Sakudo, Mari & Yokoo, Hide-Fumi, 2021. "Subjective probabilistic expectations, household air pollution, and health: Evidence from cooking fuel use patterns in West Bengal, India," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    4. Muller, Christophe & Yan, Huijie, 2018. "Household fuel use in developing countries: Review of theory and evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 429-439.
    5. Behera, Bhagirath & Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Jeetendra, Aryal & Ali, Akhter, 2015. "Household collection and use of biomass energy sources in South Asia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 468-480.
    6. Oliver Stoner & Jessica Lewis & Itzel Lucio Martínez & Sophie Gumy & Theo Economou & Heather Adair-Rohani, 2021. "Household cooking fuel estimates at global and country level for 1990 to 2030," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-8, December.
    7. Masera, Omar R. & Saatkamp, Barbara D. & Kammen, Daniel M., 2000. "From Linear Fuel Switching to Multiple Cooking Strategies: A Critique and Alternative to the Energy Ladder Model," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(12), pages 2083-2103, December.
    8. Genovaitė Liobikienė & Jānis Brizga, 2022. "Sustainable Consumption in the Baltic States: The Carbon Footprint in the Household Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-14, January.
    9. Muhammad Imran & Azlan Zahid & Salma Mouneer & Orhan Özçatalbaş & Shamsheer Ul Haq & Pomi Shahbaz & Muhammad Muzammil & Muhammad Ramiz Murtaza, 2022. "Relationship between Household Dynamics, Biomass Consumption, and Carbon Emissions in Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-16, May.
    10. Xiaoheng Zhang & Guiquan Yan & Qipei Feng & Amar Razzaq & Azhar Abbas, 2022. "Ecological Sustainability and Households’ Wellbeing: Linking Households’ Non-Traditional Fuel Choices with Reduced Depression in Rural China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-15, November.
    11. Choudhuri, Pallavi & Desai, Sonalde, 2020. "Gender inequalities and household fuel choice in India," MPRA Paper 110340, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Yao, Chunsheng & Chen, Chongying & Li, Ming, 2012. "Analysis of rural residential energy consumption and corresponding carbon emissions in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 445-450.
    13. Kuo, Ying-Min & Azam, Mehtabul, 2019. "Household Cooking Fuel Choice in India, 2004-2012: A Panel Multinomial Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 12682, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. repec:rza:wpaper:243 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Cooke, Priscilla & Köhlin, Gunnar & Hyde, William F., 2008. "Fuelwood, forests and community management – evidence from household studies," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(1), pages 103-135, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Behera, Bhagirath & Ali, Akhter, 2017. "Factors determining household use of clean and renewable energy sources for lighting in Sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 661-672.
    2. Christophe Muller & Huijie Yan, 2018. "Household Fuel Use in Rural China," AMSE Working Papers 1808, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    3. Muller, Christophe & Yan, Huijie, 2018. "Household fuel use in developing countries: Review of theory and evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 429-439.
    4. Gebru, Bahre & Elofsson, Katarina, 2023. "The role of forest status in households’ fuel choice in Uganda," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    5. Hafiz Salami & Kingsley Okpara & Chomsri Choochuay & Techato Kuaanan & David Akeju & Manasseh Shitta, 2025. "Domestic energy consumption, theories, and policies: a systematic review," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 5821-5867, March.
    6. Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Behera, Bhagirath & Ali, Akhter, 2016. "Patterns and determinants of household use of fuels for cooking: Empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 117(P1), pages 93-104.
    7. Lu, Hongwei & Li, Tingting & Li, Guojing & Luo, Qiyou & Gao, Mingjie, 2025. "Digital literacy and the rural cooking energy transition: Evidence from rural China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    8. Kojo Sarfo Gyamfi & Elena Gaura & James Brusey & Alessandro Bezerra Trindade & Nandor Verba, 2020. "Understanding Household Fuel Choice Behaviour in the Amazonas State, Brazil: Effects of Validation and Feature Selection," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-21, July.
    9. Wassie, Yibeltal T. & Rannestad, Meley M. & Adaramola, Muyiwa S., 2021. "Determinants of household energy choices in rural sub-Saharan Africa: An example from southern Ethiopia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    10. Ranganai Chidembo & Joseph Francis & Simbarashe Kativhu, 2022. "Rural Households’ Perceptions of the Adoption of Rooftop Solar Photovoltaics in Vhembe District, South Africa," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-11, August.
    11. Zhu, Xiaodong & Zhu, Zheng & Zhu, Bangzhu & Wang, Ping, 2022. "The determinants of energy choice for household cooking in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    12. Utkarsh Patel & Deepak Kumar, 2020. "The Indian Energy Divide: Dissecting inequalities in the energy transition towards LPG," Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) Working Paper 401, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi, India.
    13. Ai, Xian-Neng & Du, Yun-Fei & Li, Wei-Ming & Li, Hui & Liao, Hua, 2021. "The pattern of household energy transition," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    14. Madhushree Dey & Rajesh K. Gautam & Aribam Bijayasundari Devi, 2024. "Bourdieu’s sociological lens: unveiling the dynamics of household carbon footprint in the Kalyani sub-division of Nadia district, West Bengal, India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 13253-13271, May.
    15. Crentsil, Aba Obrumah & Asuman, Derek & Fenny, Ama Pokuaa, 2019. "Assessing the determinants and drivers of multidimensional energy poverty in Ghana," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    16. Malla, Sunil & Timilsina, Govinda R, 2014. "Household cooking fuel choice and adoption of improved cookstoves in developing countries : a review," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6903, The World Bank.
    17. Khalid Waleed & Faisal Mehmood Mirza, 2023. "Examining fuel choice patterns through household energy transition index: an alternative to traditional energy ladder and stacking models," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 6449-6501, July.
    18. Vyas, Sangita & Gupta, Aashish & Khalid, Nazar, 2021. "Gender and LPG use after government intervention in rural north India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    19. repec:osf:socarx:3v4cj_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Zhou, Qiang & Liu, Yong & Qu, Shen, 2022. "Emission effects of China's rural revitalization: The nexus of infrastructure investment, household income, and direct residential CO2 emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    21. Totouom, Armand, 2024. "Women's decision-making power and the adoption of liquefied petroleum gas for cooking in Cameroon," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:27:y:2025:i:5:d:10.1007_s10668-023-04325-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.