Carbon Footprint of Public Transportation ? A Case Study of Religious Tourism to Shri Mata Vaishano Devi Shrine in Katra, Jammu and Kashmir, India

The rates of increment in G h Gs concentrations in the atmosphere are extraordinarily high, far exceeding their natural sequestration rates. Transportation accounts to 19% of the global energy use and 23% of all the C o 2 emissions globally, a bout 75% of these emissions come from cars and trucks. i n i ndia, transportation sector consumes about 17% of total energy and produces 60% of G h G emissions, estimated at around 261 Tg of C o 2 , of which 94.5% is contributed by road transport. Travel and tourism, one of the largest industries in the world is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Religious tourism in particular, is an important cultural and traditional heritage of i ndia. This paper is a case study to estimate the individual carbon footprints of pilgrims travelling s hri m ata Vaishano Devi s hrine in k atra, Jammu and k ashmir. The analysis considers individual emissions from different modes of transportation viz. train, bus, taxi/auto-rickshaw and air travel using equivalent carbon emission factors.