Demand-Supply Gap in Energy Use in BRICS Countries with Special Reference to India - Emerging Challenges and Policies

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) Energy Research Co-operation Platform (ERCP) is an international program for developing energy-based sustainable development and sharing advanced energy technologies. BRICS is a heterogeneous club of nations having around a quarter of GDP, supplyling energy products to 40 percent of the world's population. The central objectives of the study are (a) the overall production consumption gap in energy use, (b) details of energy production, consumption; total proved reserves, import, export of energy, growth rate of energy consumption, (c) associations among energy use, demographic, socio-economic and environmental aspects and (d) policy measures undertaken to reduce energy gap along with pathways to the low-carbon environment. The study is based on the secondary data on (a) energy proved reserves, production and consumption for the period 2011-2021, (b) associated demographic, socio-economic, and environment related data obtained from different reports and others. Results have been presented through tabular forms and through figures, and percentages. Among BRICS countries, there are heterogeneous production-consumption gaps for different sources of energy, particularly oil.