Coal power stand at COP26 climate talks lends India time to transition

MUMBAI: Far from Glasgow, in the coal hub of Ranchi in eastern India, labour union leader D. D. Ramanandan followed the COP26 climate summit closely, scanning tweets by experts and news reports to check for any imminent “threat to coal” in his country. So when India, along with other coal-reliant nations like China, pushed successfully to water down language on efforts to ditch coal power at the talks, drawing criticism, Ramanandan saw it as an opportunity to plan a better green transition.

“I followed (the) COP to see if India pledges for transition because then the process will begin here and it will impact workers, land users, entire towns and villages. This is a big issue,” said Ramanandan, general secretary of the All India Coal Workers Federation.

“Local communities still don’t believe a future beyond coal is possible. But we need to prepare ourselves,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

“It is important to control carbon emissions and coal will end - if not in 20, then 50 years,” he added.

The two-week UN climate talks in Scotland ended on Saturday with a deal targeting fossil fuels for the first time.

But India, backed by China, South Africa, Nigeria and Iran, rejected a clause urging a “phase out” of unabated coal-fired power - which is not fitted with technology to reduce carbon emissions - and secured a change in the text for a “phase-down”.

“How can anyone expect that developing countries can make promises about phasing out coal and fossil fuel subsidies when developing countries have still to deal with their development agendas and poverty eradication?,” India’s environment and climate minister Bhupender Yadav told the conference.

Most just transition experts and unions backed India’s stance at the summit, saying the country “had no choice”. Fossil fuels account for more than 60% of India’s installed power capacity, with coal accounting for over half.

Sanjay Vashist, director of Climate Action Network South Asia, said the Glasgow Climate Pact reflected the interests of rich, powerful governments aiming to pass the burden of dropping coal to developing nations while leaving oil and gas untouched. “There will be pressure in the future to phase out coal. It is a wake-up call for India and it should hear it loud and clear - that the phase out will have an impact on communities,” he said.

“India has not thought about energy transition,” he added. “Coal mines being closed in India are not because of climate change but because they are no longer profitable.” India started on a strong green footing at COP26 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced plans to reach net-zero carbon emissions in 2070 and boost the share of renewables in India’s energy mix from about 38% last year to 50% by 2030.