New Delhi, Sep 2 - India's per capita green house gas (GHG) emission, the main cause of global warming, continues to be less than the global average and even in 2031 it will be below the world average of 2005, the environment and forest ministry asserted Wednesday.

'As per the estimates of the five different studies, India's per capita GHG emissions in 2030-31 would be between 2.77 tonnes and five tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Four of the five studies estimated that even in 2031, it would stay under four tonnes of CO2e which is lower than the global per capita emissions of 4.22 tonnes in 2005,' the ministry said in a report.

The study results were announced by Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

'This would mean that even two decades from now, India's per capita GHG emissions would be well below the global average of 25 years earlier,' said the report titled 'India's GHG Emissions Profile: Results of Five Climate Modelling Studies'.

In absolute terms, estimates of India's GHG emissions in 2031 vary from four billion tones to 7.3 billion tones of CO2e. Ramesh said the key drivers of the range of these estimates are the assumptions on GDP growth, penetration of clean energy and energy efficiency improvements among others.