'Thermal coal plants in India, China key source of emission'

The power sectors in India and China together are one of the most significant sources of emission on the planet due to a large number of thermal coal plants, according to a new research report.
In the report, London-based Energy Transition Advisors said that while in China coal consumption appears to have peaked already, in both China and India coal demand will still exceed International Energy Agency carbon budgets for thermal coal before 2050.
It said that IEA carbon 'budgets' for their power sectors call for a near complete decarbonisation by 2050.
"While this can help with air pollution and water stress too, carbon capture and storage plays a key part in that budget," the report said.

It pointed that after a strong surge in 2015, the pipeline of all planned coal plants has fallen in India and China but the level remains "unrealistically high" relative to demand and the development of cleaner power sources.
The report said that in China in particular the current build out of coal plants under construction can cause an overshoot of the IEA thermal coal budget by 2020 on an annual basis and use up the whole of the budget available till 2050 by 2036.

It said that India's total budget will also be expended as early as 2036, even with no new power plants developed post those under construction now.

Today, there are 205GW of thermal power stations under construction in China and 65GW in India.
"There is no doubt that both India and China have comprehensive policies to stimulate cleaner energy, but efficiency and further policy changes would be highly desirable to support these trends by constraining unneeded thermal coal and developing green financing markets," the report said.
According to the IEA's 2 degree Celsius budgets, India and China can emit 108Gt CO2 by 2050.
Just factoring in these thermal coal power stations currently under construction, India and China will reach 169 Gt CO2 - an overshoot of more than 50 per cent.

If all planned thermal coal power stations go ahead, this figure reaches a staggering 196Gt CO2 by 2050.
Mark Fulton, founding partner of Energy Transition Advisors, said: "The power sectors of China and India together combine to be one of the most significant sources of emissions on the planet due to the use of thermal coal plants."
"India is rightly concerned with development goals. Power sector solutions that are both viable (renewable energy) and need further proving (Carbon Capture and Storage) are still compatible with this and distributed solar with back up options is a very important path to energy access," Fulton said.

He said further policy changes would be highly desirable to support these trends by constraining unneeded thermal coal, promoting the dispatch of renewable power and developing green financing markets.