(Bangkok) Plans to increase the amount of coal mined in India could double its emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, by 2029, threatening the country’s climate goals, a report said Thursday.
Methane is the second largest greenhouse gas produced by human activity, after carbon dioxide.
Coal mining releases large amounts of the gas into the atmosphere. India is already one of the world’s largest sources of methane emissions from coal mines, as well as the second largest producer, importer and consumer of the fossil fuel.
The country plans to increase domestic coal production from 982 million tonnes to more than 1.5 billion tonnes by 2030, according to the coal ministry.
This could more than double methane emissions from coal mining by 2029 compared to the previous decade, according to the report, produced by independent energy think tank Ember.
India has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2070, but the planned expansion of coal “poses a significant risk to the country’s national emissions reduction plans and will have a profound impact on near-term warming,” the report warns.
India, the world’s most populous country, faces a dilemma as it seeks to meet its climate commitments while meeting the growing energy demand of its growing economy.
The Ember report acknowledges that the “unprecedented increase” in the country’s demand for electricity is outstripping the capacity of renewable energy.
The European Union and the United States launched a “Global Methane Pledge” in 2021, in which countries commit to reducing emissions of the gas by 30% below 2020 levels by the end of the decade.
More than 150 countries have signed the pledge, but not China, India or Russia.