Coal is so important to our energy system, how can we let it go?

Indeed, out of the total electricity generation of India(700 billion kWh) coal contributes more than 75% of this – Coal has the biggest role in powering the entire country and the world.

But at the same time - it one of the biggest contributor to Global warming and is the single most important target, to avert the climate crisis. Coal is contributing to about 2/3rd of India’s CO2 emissions.

- James Hansen, the top NASA scientist, has stated that the ‘single most important action’ needed to tackle the climate crisis is to reduce CO2 emissions from coal’ – an opinion repeated by experts around the world. - Patz, J., et al., 2005. estimated that 150,000 people die each year from climate change effects, The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sir John Holmes, warned in 2007 that 12 of the 13 major relief operations that year had been climate related, and Professor James Lovelock FRS has warned that over 6 billion people will die this century due to unaddressed climate change.

- Coal has massive social costs, it is extremely hazardous to our health and the local environment. Alex Gabbard suggests that coal combustion is more hazardous to health than nuclear power. (Pollutants from Coal based electricity generation kills upto 170,000 people annually) – and coal sucks up critical resources of land,water etc

New Coal plants – will threaten india’s future energy security , economy and cause irreparable damage to the environment, people’s health and communities.