UN Secretary General urges India to phase out coal and embrace renewable energy
UN Secretary General António Guterres today called on the Indian government to move away from coal and other fossil fuel-based economic growth and fully embrace renewable energy (RE). Guterres’s remarks were a part of his Darbari Seth Memorial Lecture speech, delivered online at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). He cautioned that new coal auctions, in a bid to kick-start a post-covid economic recovery, would be counterproductive, since coal has no future economic viability. It would rather lead to greater pollution, add to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and place a burden on India’s healthcare system. Guterres praised India’s achievements in RE investments and the country’s 2030 target of increasing its share of RE capacity to 500 gigawatts.
