On March 3, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged wealthy nations to end coal use by 2030. On March 12, Jayant Sinha, former Minister of State for Finance, submitted a private bill to the Lok Sabha which urged the Indian government to commit to a net-zero emissions target by 2050. Subsequently, a torrent of analysis and reports about India committing to net zero emissions surfaced. If India really intends to announce an ambition for net zero, then as a country which uses coal for more than 70 per cent of its energy, it will face daunting challenges.
There are multiple pathways to achieve net-zero emissions, almost all of them require moving away from coal. Globally, the conversation on net-zero emissions has almost always come after or gone hand-in-hand with a coal phaseout plan.
