(This article first appeared in The Hindustan Times on July 21, 2021)
- While it is true that India is the world’s third-largest carbon emitter after China and the US, the country needs cheap and reliable power to meet three challenges: First, India has to provide clean cooking energy to 800 million people and electricity access to 200 million; second, it has to create jobs and that cannot happen without more and better power; and third, the urban transition will require huge energy needs. India reduced support to the fossil fuel industry by 4% between 2015 and 2019 while countries in the G20 forum are failing to meet their commitments, a new report by BloombergNEF and Bloomberg Philanthropies released on Tuesday said. The G20 provided $636 billion in direct support for fossil fuels in 2019, which is 10% less than that in 2015. The report, however, also noted that India has 66 coal power plants in the pipeline, second only to China’s 247…