NEW DELHI: Coal will remain king in India, pushing net-zero goals further away in spite of the government’s continuous push for renewables, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.
According to the IEA’s Coal Report 2021, India’s coal consumption will increase at an average annual rate of 3.9% to 1.18 billion tonne in 2024, on the back of a GDP growth rate of 7.4% between 2022 and 2024, which will partially be fuelled by coal.
It saw India’s total annual coal demand rebounding in 2021 to 1.05 billion tonne, a tad higher than pre-pandemic level, from 931 million tonne (mt) in 2020 when consumption had fallen due to the pandemic-induced demand destruction.
