India distanced itself from the global alliance on phasing out coal by 2030-40, signed by 23 new members at the ongoing COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, as its dependence on the fossil fuel is expected to continue with its growing energy needs. However, New Delhi agreed to be party to another green commitment, co-signed by 13 other countries including Indonesia, Japan and Nigeria, wherein a global goal of doubling the efficiency of lighting, cooling, motors and refrigeration by 2030 is being targeted with support from the Climate Group’s EP100 initiative of 129 businesses.

The 23 new countries that have pledged to not build or issue permits for new coal plants and shift from using the fuel include Vietnam, Indonesia, Poland, South Korea and Ukraine, according to a statement issued by the UNFCCC. This has taken up the number of countries that have committed to quit coal at COP26 to 40.

India’s coal dependence

But it is not just India which is absent from the list. The largest polluting countries, including the US and China, too, did not sign the agreement that calls for phasing out coal power in advanced economies by the 2030s and worldwide by the 2040s. The signatories have pledged not to invest in new coal power at home or abroad.

Coal’s share in India’s power generation is about 70 per cent, and experts are of the view that with the sharp acceleration in demand for power, India’s demand for coal to continue over the next decade or more. “Coal’s total share in power generation is likely to reduce sharply going forward if the commitment made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of meeting 50 per cent of India’s energy requirements through non-fossil fuels by 2030 is to be met. But India needs to keep investing in coal for some time to meet its development needs,” a source tracking the development told BusinessLine .

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