The record-shattering heatwave that engulfed most of India and Pakistan brought temperatures to a new high. In March 2022, reported record temperatures In India made the hottest in 122 years since records began. Heatwaves have happened in the past, but man-made climate change is making heat waves longer, more extreme, and more frequent, while the extreme smog worsens each winter. Climate Change is a complex branch of science and mathematics. It defines that the burning of fossil fuels is the fundamental cause of the exponential increase in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which ultimately results in heat-wave and smog in South Asia. One of the serious consequences of the record-breaking heatwave is enormous forest fires that have erupted across Pakistan especially. The worst impact of the heatwave has exacerbated massive energy shortages across Pakistan too,
The sharp rise in the number of heatwaves is due to the increasing impact of climate change in South Asia. Let’s examine the case using the science of Climate-Change and legitimate facts-. Unquestionably greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from India rank third on the global list. The country emits about three gigatons of GHG emissions each year, which is causing Himalayan glaciers to retreat, threatening the flow rate of the Indus, Ganges, and other major rivers. These extraordinary ever-increasing greenhouse gases emission has risen by 0.8 °C between 1901 and 2021.
International Energy Agency’s Clean Coal Centre (IEA-CCC) in its study released on February 13, 2021 Coal-burning is responsible for (GHG) emissions in India. The country uses almost one giga-ton every year, which makes up 95% of coal consumption in all South Asian Countries. Scientific studies have established that 70% percent of GHG emissions come from the power sector of India, mainly from coal power plants, followed by agriculture, industry, and others.
It is a hard reality that India’s coal-based thermal power sector is one of the country’s biggest emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2). The total installed capacity of India is 400000 Megawatt and 58% of its total installed capacity comes from coal. Unequivocally, India was ranked fourth in wind power, fifth in solar power, and fourth in renewable power installed capacity. As of 31 March 2022, the Installed capacity of wind energy is 46,723 MW and solar energy is 109,885 but for the power sector, the number of electricity units generated only counts. For more clarity, in the month of Feb 2022, a total of 133 billion units were generated while the share of coal-based electricity was alone 103 billion units, which makes up almost 78% of the total generation, and the share of renewable power was only 13%. So meeting electricity demand with renewable energy will take another 100 years. This is the reason why India defended coal-based power generation at the Glasgow climate summit.
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) New Delhi-based leading think-tank on climate change, concluded that Indian coal-based power plants are way below global standards in terms of efficiency, and GHG emission. The study claimed the average efficiency of the plants, it assessed, was 32.8 percent, one of the lowest among major coal-based power-producing countries.
The author has been working on the role of power generation in GHG emissions for 15 years. In his study, emissions from thermal plants released in 2012 and 2014, concluded that CO2 emissions are a function of the efficiency of a thermal power plant, which in turn depends on its size and age, and the technology it utilizes. India has one % ultra-supercritical power plants and the rest is subcritical, whereas China and Japan have significant portions with ultra-supercritical technology that’s why India has the second-highest specific CO2 emissions, standing at 983 g/kWh; 22 percent higher than the world’s lowest specific CO2 emission.
Adding more to GHG emissions is the heavy Ash content of coal produced in India. The global average varies from 10 to 20 %s, while Indian domestic coal has 30 to 45 %. Heavy ash contents further aggravate the emissions of SO2, NOx, and particulate matter, with associated impacts on health, and pulsation. Fly ash is left behind when coal is burnt. Coal-fired power plants are the biggest sources of fly ash, which contains toxic chemicals. It is an established scientific fact that coal ash ponds of power plants are prone to flooding, smog, and heatwave.
Taking into account the hazards of coal-based power generation, In August 2020 UN secretary-general António Guterres advised India to stop building coal-fired power stations before the end of the year 2020. India not only ignored this advice but also added 5500 Megawatt of Coal Power plants since then but also targets to increase its coal production to 1.2 billion tons by 2023-24. Thus now India is overtaking China as the World’s Largest Emitter of Anthropogenic Sulfur Dioxide too.
With the increase in coal-based India poised to become the world’s next biggest polluter in the second half of this century, the international community has been putting pressure on the Narendra Modi government to set a 2050 deadline for India’s emissions to reach net zero. But India is reluctant to accept. India became the sixth-largest economy, having a foreign reserve of about USD 600 billion due to cheap power from coal. In India, the electricity produced from coal-based power plants is 35% cheaper than electricity produced from renewables (and 16% cheaper than domestic natural gas). Again on 18 January 2022 while addressing – World Economic Forum, UN Secretary-General, has stressed the phasing out of coal as climate priority number one. Hitherto, again this UN didn’t make any impact on India’s commitment to using coal as an engine for economic growth. In international Forums, India is always coming up with the argument that China is the top GHG emitter. But this statement was never challenged by other South Asian Countries that the high Himalayas mountain range and Tibetan Plateau, separated the Indian subcontinent from China. Can India share how the air, heavily loaded with Sulfur dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen oxides (NOx), Carbon dioxide (CO2), and Fly ash residues crosses the high Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau?
This air Pollution routinely crosses political boundaries, that’s why the worst impact of this Indian strategy to use coal for economic growth is her neighbor- Pakistan engulfed by severe heat waves in summer and smog in winter. In 2020, Pakistan has attained the fifth position in the climate change vulnerability index. Yet, In the case of Pakistan, we observe that the Climate Change Sector in Pakistan is a fine example of elite capture. Generating fancy reports or generic statements by pseudo-intellectuals and officials, being alien to this subject is the biggest tragedy. Pakistan is in the grip of an extreme heatwave, reaching a temperature of 50 degrees Celsius, causing acute water shortages and a health threat, the minister of Climate Change came up with a proposal to frame a communication strategy. This is what the country is doing for the last two decades to combat transboundary GHG emissions but never bother to frame a logical and technical case against India reinforced with scientific facts and legitimate data. What is more, are the decisions of the Indian Supreme court on the subject? But who will make the effort? inept bureaucracy or political government —
Lastly, we have hope from the US President, who emerged as a Global Climate Change leader. President Biden is committed to levels in 2030, reaching a 100% carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035. Can Bidden send the decision of the US Supreme Court of 29 April 2014 on his close strategic Partner India? U.S. Supreme Court set standards to protect states from the harmful air pollution that is emitted by distant power plants and then blows across state borders.
When Biden will send a hard worded message for action to India for NET ZERO emission in 2030- 1. 98 Billion People are waiting for relief from Climate Change adversities and hope for a clean environment to breathe.
