Coal, China and India - what the fumes foretell

Both India and China cannot let go of coal easily. There are implications. An update.

Coal, China and India - what the fumes foretell

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Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

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• COP26 and coal: There's little doubt that coal needs to be phased out totally from global economy. The question remains about the pace of being able to do that. Large consumers of coal are faced with that huge question, even as they consciously build their renewable capacity. When India and China spoke of "phasing down" and not "phasing out" of coal, this is what they meant.
• Why did they ask for it: There’s a simple reason for that - no other nations added more coal-fired power-plant capacity in the past decade than these two major emitters. China and India are mining a combined 14 million tons a day of coal, which remains crucial to current energy needs and is crucial for next 10 years at least. In parallel, both are installing huge volumes of renewables and chasing targets to zero out greenhouse gas emissions.
• Coal not going anywhere: The global pipeline of coal power under development rose in 2020, first since 2015, due to by a wave of new facilities in China. India’s government forecasts coal plant capacity to grow to 267 gigawatts by 2030 from 208 gigawatts now. New coal-fired plants are expected to operate for at least 30 years, making coal's role in the global energy mix beyond the middle of the century.
• Coal's language at COP-26: China and India pushed for last minute changes to the COP26 pact that originally wanted a call to accelerate the “phase-out” of unabated coal power, to the “phase-down” use of fuel. That made others angry against the two nations, with COP26 President Alok Sharma upset too. But it's a fact that mines in China and India have ramped up production in 2021 to ease a supply crunch that’s caused widespread power shortages. China’s miners have beaten a government target to raise output to 12 million tons a day, and India’s daily production is close to 2 million tons. It is clear that the world is not ready for a shift to renewables today.
• Size of coal: Coal’s share in global electricity generation fell in 2020 to 34%, the smallest in more than two decades, though it remains the single largest power source. In China, it accounted for about 62% of electricity generation last year. President Xi Jinping has set a target for the nation to peak its consumption of the fuel in 2025, and aims to have non-fossil fuel energy sources exceed 80% of its total mix by 2060. For India, coal is even more important, representing 72% of electricity generation. The It will make up 21% of India’s electricity mix by 2050, as per estimates.

1. For India, Coal can help meet energy needs without depending on imports, also as alternatives like nuclear are hampered by high cost and safety concerns.
2. But there's huge risk in this push by the top coal-consuming nations to allow prolonged use of the fuel, as it's incompatible with efforts to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.

• Imperative: Coal has to be abandoned for a secure and safe climate future. Net zero cannot be achieved without urgent action to leave the world’s reserves of fossil fuels in the ground.
• EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) The dichotomy in India and China, where a huge push to renewable energy is running in parallel to pumping out more coal from the mines, is unmissable. Explain what's going on. (2) What is meant by "energy mix"? Explain.

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

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