India’s energy dilemma: Coal-powered growth vs climatic

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its recent findings on Asia, pinpointed the Indian subcontinent as the region that will suffer the most from global warming.

The panel’s nightmarish predictions have caused some unease among policy-makers who have been arguing that India must rely heavily on coal power for the next three decades to sustain an economic growth of up to 10 per cent and lift millions out of poverty.
Coal is the dominant fuel in India’s energy mix. More than half of the country’s energy needs are met by coal which also fuels 78 per cent of the electricity generation.

However coal-based plants also account for about 55 per cent of India’s emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

The Indian government places great reliance on coal energy as it is the country’s only fossil fuel available in abundant quantities.

Gas and oil imports are neither stable nor assured, nuclear energy is prohibitively expensive, an anti-dam movement prevents the building of new hydro projects. Renewable energy projects are still in the nascent phase.

With nearly 200 coal power plants planned over the next decade and the country’s demand for coal will reach 2.5 billion tons by 2031, up from the 460 million tons currently.

According to the government’s own data, annual emissions of carbon dioxide will rise from 1 billion tons at present to 5.5 billion tons per year by 2031, meaning India will overtake Japan and Russia to become the world’s third largest carbon dioxide emitter after the US and China by 2030, said Srinivas Krishnaswamy, Head of the Climate and Energy Unit, Greenpeace India.

Earth Times