Talk renewables, walk coal: The paradox of India's energy transition

Abstract

Coal is on the rise in India: despite the devasting impacts of the climate crisis, the awareness for land and forest rights, and political talk of a coal phase-out. In this article, we demonstrate that despite the renewables-led rhetoric, India is in the midst of a transition to (not away from) greater use of coal in its fossil energy system and in the electricity system in particular. We investigate this paradox by combining socio-metabolic and political-ecological analysis of the Indian coal complex. Our framework integrates material and energy flow data as characterizing the Indian fossil energy transition, indicators on the development and structure of the coal industry, and studies of ecological distribution conflicts around coal. The dominant claim to expansive use of coal and the competing counterclaims are indicative of underlying power relations which can also be witnessed in other countries. In India, they extend into the conflicted development of renewable energy including hydropower, in which the land dispossession, exclusion, and injustices associated with the expansion of the coal complex are reproduced. We conclude that the current energy transition – in which coal continues to play a dominant role – is neither sustainable nor just.

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“…With coal still being the primary energy source (see Figure 1), the economy will inevitably will get affected that will steer institutional and political changes and disrupt the 'coalequilibrium'. 39,62 Even if the energy transition takes a few decades, the scale of the transition and its significance for regional economies should be considered in the current paradigm of 'good' energy policymaking. It is even more crucial to discuss now because of the plans for the new National Renewable Energy Policy (NREP) in the draft Electricity (Amendment) Act 2020.…”

“…Also, the livelihood around coal mines provides critical social infrastructure to around 10-15 million people. 39 Coal-rich states are driven by the royalties from coal mines, for example, in the Indian States of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, coal contributes 10% and 9%, respectively to the state economy. 29 The coal-states are predominantly poor with lowerlevel of industrialisation and lower GDP per capita (except Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra), and they are not equipped to deal with this disruption.…”

“…29 The coal-states are predominantly poor with lowerlevel of industrialisation and lower GDP per capita (except Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra), and they are not equipped to deal with this disruption. 39,62 A RE-driven decline in coal also affects central government financing, especially the coal-cess or Clean Energy Cess. It will, in turn, affect investments in RE and the retrofitting efforts of the existing coal plants to improve their clean energy performance.…”