Energy and the Climate Crisis: The Path to Net-Zero Emissions

By Prof. Rajeev Jindal | IIT Kanpur

Learners enrolled: 958 | Exam registration: 383

ABOUT THE COURSE:

This course aims to make students understand the importance of energy in achieving a carbon-neutral society, specifically in a country like India, where energy consumption is expected to increase drastically. The course will provide an overview of climate change: the underlying science, the threat posed by global temperature rise, the proposed policy solutions, and international climate negotiations. The lectures will give students a detailed understanding of energy uses in different sectors and the urgent need for energy efficiency and low consumption patterns. Energy supply pathways and a comprehensive understanding of clean energy technologies will be taught. Important transition technology like CCUS is also covered in this course. This course will make students aware of the interventions which can eventually help in achieving Net Zero emissions.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: All students looking to work in the domain of sustainability, net-zero transition, energy policy domains

PREREQUISITES: Basic Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry courses

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Any industry planning to do to net-zero transitions

Summary

Course Status :	Ongoing
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Multidisciplinary
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Postgraduate
Start Date :	19 Jan 2026
End Date :	10 Apr 2026
Enrollment Ends :	02 Feb 2026
Exam Registration Ends :	20 Feb 2026
Exam Date :	26 Apr 2026 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Overview in Global and Indian context :

Evolution of humankind and the increase in Energy Demand
Rampant use of fossil fuels post-industrial revolution and Greenhouse gas emissions
Efforts on both the demand side and supply side – expected scenarios

Expected GHG trajectory linked to energy use

Week 2 & 3: Understanding Climate Change: Science, Impacts and Mitigation Options

Historical evolution of global temperatures and greenhouse gas concentrations
Different GHG and their global warming potential
Regional distribution of CO2 and other GHG emissions: total and per capita
Sectoral contributions to GHG emissions
Natural sinks of GHG and Negative Emissions
Impacts of global temperature increase

Mitigation options and their economics

Week 4:

Importance of demand-side interventions to address climate change: Global and in India
Energy consumption trends: by region and by sector
Need for energy efficiency

Projections of energy demand under BAU and energy efficiency scenarios

Role of industrial emissions
Major energy-consuming industrial sectors (Steel, cement etc.)

Week 5:

Emissions and fuel consumption
Energy efficiency interventions and BEE efforts

Demand projections, the role of technology and policies

Expected growth in the transport sector
Fossil fuel reliance and geo-political implications
GHG emissions and other pollutants
Mitigation plans for controlling emissions

Role of technologies and standards

Week 6:

Why focus on the built environment
Projected expansion in the built environment and appliance penetration: Urban and Rural
Rural demand projections and inefficiencies in energy use
The need for energy efficiency

Initiatives and Schemes by Government and Utilities: Opportunities and Barriers

Week 7:

Major sources of energy generation.
LCOE calculations
Carbon emissions from various sources
Expected scenarios – global and Indian
Role of growing renewables
Challenges

Week 8:

Solar as an energy source: various technologies and Relative Costs
Embedded carbon
Development over the years
Global Projections and India’s potential
Expected challenges and barriers

Week 9:

Wind energy as an energy source: the potential and relative cost
Embedded carbon
Development over the years

Expected challenges and barriers

Other major sources of renewable energy and their current status and expected movement:
Hydro
Nuclear

Week 10:

Geothermal
Biofuel
Hydrogen
Role of storage

The need for CCUS (carbon capture utilisation and storage)

The scale needed to achieve climate targets
Technology and storage options
Implementation examples

Bottlenecks to scale deployment

Week 11 & 12: What do we mean by Net Zero?

Definition as per some standards
Relation of Net zero and COP commitments
Global Climate Negotiations

Social challenges

Books and references

Andrews, John, Nicholas Alfred Jelley, and Nick Jelley. Energy science: principles, technologies, and impacts. Oxford university press, 2022.
Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Dubash, Navroz K. An India in a Warming World: Integrating Climate Change and Development. Oxford University Press, 2019
Emissions Gap Report 2022: The Closing Window — Climate crisis calls for rapid transformation of societies. United Nations Environment Programme, 2022.
India Energy Outlook, IEA, 2021 or any latest update
Net Zero by 2050, IEA, 2021 or any latest update
Tester, Jefferson W., Elisabeth M. Drake, Michael J. Driscoll, Michael W. Golay, and William A. Peters. Sustainable Energy: Choosing Among Options. 2nd edition. MIT Press, 2012
World Energy Outlook, IEA, 2022 or any latest update
More reference material will be prescribed during the course in various forms.

Instructor bio

Prof. Rajeev Jindal

IIT Kanpur

Dr Rajeev Jindal did his PhD in physics at IIT Delhi in 1998. After his PhD, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Universite de Nice, France and Mississippi State University, USA. Subsequently, he joined the industry and served various industries like Sterlite, Moser Baer, NTL, and C&S Electric, in the capacity of R&D manager and business management. He has launched over 200 products, taking many products from the R&D stage to commercialization.

He has authored more than 30 refereed journal papers, 1 book and filed 20 patents. He works as a professor of practice at IIT Kanpur, India.

His current areas of research interests are:

Net Zero Campuses:

Overall conceptualization and mitigation strategies
Waste management

Renewable energy transition:

Modelling and Policy of Energy Transition Plan
Policy research on biofuel integration

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: April 26, 2026 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Kanpur .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team