Environmental and Employment impact of resource use in India: A case study of copper

India’s recent economic boom has led to a significant growth in the infrastructure sector. Copper metal, that finds large application in various infrastructure related sector like telecommunication, electrical and construction, has too experienced growth. This has led to a rise in the demand for the primary resource copper ore and concentrates in India. Apart from some major players in the copper production sector, there also exist around 1000 small scale units involved in conversion to ingots from scrap metal. The growing demand for copper ore has significant impact on the total emission and employment generation of the sectors that are directly and indirectly dependent on the resource. To capture some of those interlinkages, cross sectoral impact on environment and employment has been estimated through the SAM (Social Accounting Matrix), using input output table. The emission coefficients show that highest emission is expected to be observed in manufacturing basic iron, steel, precious and non ferrous metal. Also, impact on employment is observed for energy products followed by manufacturing of basic iron, steel, non ferrous and agricultural sector. The findings call for a larger integration of the institutions to implement measures tackling the emission related issues of the copper industry and its associated effect on other sectors of an economy. However, this would require an intervention from all the central and state agencies. Laying policy principles for technological innovations for emission reductions, efficient recycling and utilization of wastes, proper management of energy resources in the copper and copper scrap sector holds a key towards addressing environmental emission. Also, concerted efforts towards policy implementation will help in attaining sustainable extraction and use of copper resource in India.