INDIA

India has the world’s largest capacity of operating coal plants behind China. It is also the world’s biggest coal producer and consumer after China. Coal accounted for approximately three-quarters of the nation’s power mix in 2022 and 2023. Although the 2018 National Electricity Plan identified approximately 48 gigawatts (GW) of coal for retirement by 2027, new higher-efficiency plants of greater capacity are still being proposed and built, with over 30 GW under construction and another 46 GW in pre-construction development as of early 2024. In 2023 alone, India permitted approximately 7.3 GW of new coal capacity, and another 14.9 GW of coal capacity moved forward in the permitting process during the same year. Continued cost decreases for renewable energy, coupled with worsening health and environmental issues, have started to trigger discussions around stranded assets and closing existing coal plants, although the government continues to push for new coal capacity to be built. India’s Power and Finance Ministers have both stated that India’s oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants need to shut down.

In 2023, the Central Electricity Authority's National Electricity Plan predicted that coal would comprise less than one-third of the country's total installed capacity by 2031-2032, with non-fossil based energy sources accounting for approximately 68% of the total capacity. This change would be in line with India’s Paris Agreement targets, updated in August 2022, – to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 45% by 2030. However, in absolute terms, coal use is expected to increase as the nation’s overall energy demand grows. India has set an ambitious target to deploy 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030, which is critical to meet growing demand with clean energy. India has not put out details backing its 2070 Net Zero target announced in 2021. In early 2023, the government of India announced that it would pause new plans for coal plants (outside of those already in the pipeline) for the next five years, but by the end of the year, the government gave the contrasting statement that it would indeed double coal production by 2030 and add 88 GW of thermal power plant capacity by 2032, much of which will be coal, in order to meet growing demand.