Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential of biogas in India for energy conservation and its potential in emission reduction through proper manure management and utilizing the tappable droppings while replacing the conventional and non-conventional fuel. Design/methodology/approach: – The authors have looked at the production, use and tappability of animal excreta for possible biogas generation and reduction in fuelwood consumption on one hand and emission reduction across the Indian states on the other. The average percentage of Biogas potential is created in the GIS database for analyzing the data set in the spatial domain using ArcGIS 9.2 software. Findings: – The paper examines that unused manure contributes to the greenhouse gas (GHG) and has huge potential of reducing the emission through proper utilization across the Indian states. Keeping current climate change dilemma in view this could be one of the feasible options to cope with the climate change and mitigating the threats. Research limitations/implications: – A comprehensive data regarding methane emission from various sources is not readily available so far. With the help of this research work the authentic data has been collected from different government departments’ data banks and past research work. However, the authors have limited to few conversion aspects in quantifying the emission factor due to complexity of the various data sets. Practical implications: – Looking at the availability of usable animal excreta in different climatic regions, the attempt has been made in demarcating economically viable and technically feasible areas for biogas generation in India. An environmental and economic cost benefit analysis for adopting this renewable energy source has also been incorporated within this research. Originality/value: – The paper examined the GHG contribution of unused manure and the possibility of reducing it through proper utilization. The adverse environmental consequences of the use of conventional and non-conventional cooking fuels have also been analyzed in terms of GHG emissions. The same was assessed for the whole lifecycle of liquefied petroleum gas, which is commonly assumed as a clean fuel.

The challenges of climate change are now being experienced by all the countries in the world through higher average temperatures, variability in precipitation, rise in sea level and more frequent climatic extremes. Climate change is emerging as a major threat to the livelihood and food security of millions of people across the world. It directly affects the natural resources sectors and especially in developing countries the economies of the people depend on them. Thus it indirectly affects economic growth, income distribution, household welfare, food and nutritional security. In this dilemma, the concept of climate smart livelihoods or climate smart agriculture emerged as one of the doable solutions which seem to have potential to cope up with climate change impacts. Throughout the world and more particularly in countries most dependent on agriculture, the policies are framed and implemented to support large population on one hand and sustaining economy and food security on the other. India is one of countries where agriculture and allied sectors are the primary source of livelihood for more than 60% of the country’s population. Therefore, the Government of India (GoI) has introduced several policies, programmes and schemes to improve and strengthen Indian agriculture. Policies introduced in recent years focus on climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices. This article attempts to look into existing policies and programmes in agriculture and allied sectors to understand the perspectives in detail and analyse the outcomes aligning with the production, resilience and mitigation under the broad framework of CSA.