India lowered imports of thermal coal by over 5.5 million tons in 2024 from the year before, according to data from Kpler, which may seem like good news to climate trackers monitoring trends in the world's second-largest coal consumer.
But total coal-fired power generation hit new highs in India last year, so lower imports mean that higher volumes of domestic coal were burned for power instead, and that's bad news for emissions levels.
That combination means that power plants need to burn greater volumes of Indian coal than imported coal to generate the same amount of power, and can generate more ash and toxic emissions when burning local coal compared to imported coal.
The trend of using more local coal and reducing coal imports looks set to continue as the government aims to become more self reliant in terms of energy supplies and ensure support for the local mining industry, which is a major employer.
And that means India's coal use and power emissions look set to keep climbing even as the country also boosts renewable energy capacity and faces growing international pressure to curb coal consumption.
NEW HIGHS
India's power producers generated a record 1,221 terawatt hours of (TWh) of coal-fired electricity in January to November of 2024, according to Ember.
That total was 5.1% more than during the same months in 2023, and marks the fourth straight year of coal-fired expansion.
Coal-fired plants accounted for 73.4% of total electricity generation over the first eleven months of 2024, which is slightly down from 2023's record of 74.2% but remains the highest coal share among all large economies.
Emissions for coal-fired generation also climbed to a new record of 1.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), and were also up by around 5% from 2023.
WIDER USE
India's consumption of coal for power also expanded geographically in 2024, with a growing share of coal use taking place outside the traditional largest coal-burning states .
Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra - with a combined population of 475 million - are the top coal-burning states in the country, and have historically accounted for roughly half of India's total coal-fired generation.
In January to November 2024, the share of coal-fired output in those four states dropped to around 45% and the lowest in five years, as growth in other states accelerated.
The collective coal-fired output of the top four coal states was around 552 TWh in January to November of 2024, which is up around 2% from the same months in 2023.
All other Indian states generated 669 TWh of coal-fired electricity in the first eleven months of 2024, which was up 8% from 2023 and the highest on record.
States including Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar and West Bengal all lifted coal-fired output to new highs last year, and rely on coal for over 75% of electricity generation.
Each of those states also saw coal-fired power emissions climb to fresh highs in 2024, and are likely to see further rises in both coal generation and pollution as the country steps up use of locally-sourced coal for power.
And with the ash content of local coal typically around 25% or more, per the Observer Research Foundation, compared to around 10% for imported coal, greater coal use will yield higher emissions.
That in turn will further elevate India's total power sector pollution loads, even as the country tries to roll out growing volumes of clean power capacity.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a market analyst for Reuters.
