Paper savings, lower energy use drive cuts: Study
Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, Dec 29: A comprehensive shift to digital governance in Jammu and Kashmir has led to an estimated annual reduction of over 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, according to a study published in the Journal of Research in Environmental and Earth Sciences.
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Titled “Green Governance: Evaluating the Environmental Gains of e-Office Transition”, the study has been authored by Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Secretary to Government, Department of Science and Technology.
It finds that the adoption of the e-Office system has helped avoid nearly 10,294 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually by replacing paper-based workflows and physically intensive administrative practices with fully digital processes.
The study describes the reform as a rare, quantified example of low-carbon public administration in a fragile ecosystem.
The e-Office platform, which was fully rolled out in 2021, now underpins day-to-day governance across secretariats, departments, district offices and public sector units in J&K.
As of July 2025, the system supports 114,826 registered users who have processed more than 37.5 lakh files and nearly 34 million receipts electronically, significantly reducing the need for physical documentation and movement of files.
One of the largest contributors to emission reductions has been the sharp decline in paper consumption.
Based on cumulative file and receipt data, the study estimates that digital workflows have eliminated the use of around 40.57 crore sheets of paper over a four-year period.
This alone translates into an annual saving of approximately 4,500 tonnes of CO2 apart from conserving tens of thousands of trees and reducing water and energy consumption associated with paper manufacturing and waste.
The research also documents substantial reductions in household-level energy consumption linked to digital working arrangements.
Avoided LPG use accounts for an estimated 1,625 tonnes of CO2 savings annually, while lower electricity consumption contributes another 1,718 tonnes each year.
Together, household energy savings amount to more than 3,300 tonnes of CO2 reduction annually.
At the institutional level, stabilised office infrastructure and reduced reliance on utilities such as lighting, heating, air conditioning, diesel generators and water supply have resulted in an additional 500 tonnes of CO2 savings per year across Government offices.
Reduced official transport and personal commuting have also played a significant role.
According to the analysis, lower deployment of Government-hired vehicles and a decline in personal travel for official purposes together account for over 1,000 tonnes of CO2 savings annually.
The elimination of physical movement of records, trunks and official documents has further reduced emissions associated with freight transport.
The study highlights the growing role of remote access in cutting emissions.
As of July 2025, more than 17,000 officials regularly use virtual private networks (VPNs) and official email systems to access files and communicate securely.
This digital substitution of physical presence and document transfer has contributed an estimated 249 tonnes of CO2 savings annually.
The J&K experience, the study says, offers a replicable model for other hill states such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim, as well as for mountainous regions globally.
Recommending institutionalisation of “green office protocols”, the study calls for integrating routine carbon accounting into digital governance initiatives and formally recognising digitisation of government administration as a climate mitigation measure under India’s commitments to the Paris Agreement.
Stating that the administration remains an underexplored avenue for climate action, the research argues that digital reforms can deliver dual benefits—improving efficiency and transparency while producing measurable and verifiable environmental gains.
Commenting on the findings, the author said the scale of change becomes evident only when viewed through data.
“Since 2021, this transition has avoided printing over 405 million pages. Hundreds of millions of sheets of paper were never manufactured, transported or discarded. Tens of thousands of trees are still standing,” Choudhary said, adding that digitisation alone eliminated over 3,300 tonnes of CO2 emissions from paper savings.
He said the study challenges conventional thinking around climate action.
“We tend to focus on large industrial interventions, but government operations themselves have a significant carbon footprint. When an entire administrative system is digitised—especially in ecologically sensitive mountain regions—the environmental gains are substantial and immediate,” he said.
The research is based on administrative data from 2018 to 2025, including records related to transport, energy consumption and office operations, analysed using international methodologies.
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