Are we really planning transition to cleaner economy?
India recently pledged at the climate conference in Glasgow in November 2021 that it will ‘phase down’ the use of coal. However, the Economic Survey 2021-2022 reveals otherwise.
The demand for coal in the country is expected to be in the range of 1.3-1.5 billion tonnes by 2030, according to the document, despite the push for renewable energy. This is an increase of 63 per cent from the current (2019-2020) demand of 955.26 million tonnes.
The Economic Survey cites the Draft National Energy Policy of Niti Aayog as the source for this number. This clearly indicates the sluggishness in the shift to a cleaner economy.
Coal- and lignite-based thermal power plants on an annual basis emit 1.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent / year, which is a third of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the country. Switching to a cleaner economy would mean disinvestment from the sector.
The central government, however, has opened up coal mining for the private sector, claiming it as one of its most ambitious coal sector reforms. The government anticipates that it will bring efficiency and competition in coal production, attract investments and best-in-class technology, and help create more jobs in the coal sector.
So far, 28 coal mines have been auctioned. Out of these, 27 were auctioned to private companies. Auction process for 88 coal mines is underway.
Afforestation way ahead?
Minor steps taken by the coal- and lignite-producing public sector units (PSU) to reduce their carbon footprints are claimed as roads leading to a cleaner economy. By 2020-21, the PSUs had brought 56,000 hectares (ha) land under green cover creating a carbon sink of about 500,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent / year, according to the report.
It is envisaged to bring about 30,000 ha of additional land (in and around coal mining areas) under green cover by plantation of around 75 million trees by 2030.
By afforesting about one-third the area of Delhi (about 150,000 hectares), the government claims reduction of 0.04 per cent CO2 emissions per annum. In a densely populated country, including afforestation to be a route to Net Zero might not prove very promising.
Switching to renewables
The report also claimed switching to renewable energy by coal companies was another effort towards turning into a low-carbon economy. As on March 31, 2021, the PSUs installed renewable capacity of 1,496 megawatts and during the next five years, it planned to install an additional 5,560 megawatts of renewable capacity with substantial carbon offset potential.
This is just 1 per cent of what the Prime Minister had committed at the recent Glasgow conference — 500 gigawatts of installed capacity through non-fossil fuels and 50 per cent of its energy requirement from renewables by 2030.
Pollution to rise
The freeway to coal will also raise the local pollution in the country. The government trumpets in the report it notified new emission norms for coal-based thermal power plants. But the implementation on the ground has been inadequate.
Except Centre-run and some private plants, a majority of the sector still has made no efforts to meet the norms.
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