Even as the hotly negotiated COP28 deal requires accelerated efforts among countries towards the “phase-down of unabated coal power,” it leaves room for India’s contingency plan to add more coal-based capacity than envisaged earlier in the short to medium term, to avert an energy crisis in the fast-growing economy.
This is because the final document or the UAE Consensus after the Dubai summit, dropped references to “limiting the permitting of new and unabated coal power generation,” under pressure from India and China.
Union power minister RK Singh has recently stated that the country would add another 30 giga watt (GW) to the nearly 50 GW of coal-based capacity that is already in the works.
