With Carbon Emissions Rising, India’s Decision to Raise Coal Mining by another 400M tons seems Strange

India is already the third largest emitter of carbon in the world and is one of the biggest users of coal. It will be the biggest growth driver of energy demand in the next 40 years, as the per capita energy demand increases for its 1.3 billion population. Despite committing to increase the share of its renewable energy capacity to 40% by 2030, India will still grow its coal-based energy power sources.

Currently, Coal India which is its monopoly coal miner produces a huge 600 million tons of coal annually which goes mainly into feeding its 150 plus GW of coal-based power capacity as well as other power-hungry sectors such as cement and steel. With the demand from all sources increasing, Coal India plans to increase its power supply by another 66% over the next five years. This will mean that carbon emissions will further increase due to coal mining and usage. India’s defense in increasing coal production is that it still needs a cheap source of power to satiate the demand from its huge population of underserved citizens. The developed world has failed to account for its historical role in increasing the carbon stock and has not helped to accelerate the transition to cleaner fuel sources. The support required through climate funds has been woefully lacking with the USA failing to honor its own commitments leave alone support developing countries.

Also, read Why Coal Power Plants Will Be A Thing Of The Past Now!

Even other developed countries have failed to support the energy transition in developing countries which is leading to ever-increasing carbon emissions. As per the latest UN report, this will means that the global temperature will increase between 3 to 4 degrees Celsius leading to catastrophic changes in weather, climate, and the oceans. The 1 degree Celsius increase now is already leading to huge weather impacts globally with hurricanes, droughts and increasing sea levels leading to hundreds of billions of dollars in losses around the world. Some smaller countries have seen their GDP quashed by up to a quarter, as the climate has severely impacted their small economies. Mozambique, St Belize, Malawi, and other countries are already facing the brunt of the climate change effects. This will only increase in breadth and depth as the globe becomes hotter every year. The smaller and developing nations do not have the resources to adapt and mitigate the climate change impact for which they are not responsible. Unless the Trumpian economics and philosophy of “me first” is changed soon across the world, you will see huge economic and livelihood impacts going forward. Other countries such as Brazil, Russia, and others are also following the USA line and are actively thwarting the changes needed to avert global warming.