Jairam Ramesh calls for balance between coal mining and protecting forests
January 8th, 2010 - 1:50 pm ICT by ANINew Delhi, Jan 8 (ANI): Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh met Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal here on Thursday amidst concerns over global warming and carbon emission.
“We are meeting regularly in order to ensure that environmental and forest issues relating to coal mining are resolved satisfactorily. We have to double our coal production over the next 7-8 years. Coal will continue to be the mainstay of our energy sector, of our energy economy. Most of our coal reserves are in the forest areas. So we have to strike a balance between protecting our forests and increasing coal production,” said Ramesh.
India has 10 percent of the world’s coal reserves, the biggest after the United States, Russia and China and thermal electricity accounts for about two-thirds of Indian power generation and includes generation using coal, gas and liquid fuel.
India also imports substantial superior quality coal and its imports have grown rapidly from almost zero five years ago to an estimated 70 million tonnes in the current fiscal year ending March 2010.The share of coal-fired plants in India’s generation capacity will rise to 57 percent by March 2012 from the current 53.3 percent or 80,284 megawatts.
Reducing emissions while satiating its rising demands for fossil fuels would be key to India’s commitment to meet climate change targets.
The United Nations-led climate change summit at Copenhangen last month concluded with an agreement to limit global warming to a maximum of two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times, but did not layout how to achieve that. (ANI)
- Saline aquifers can store century's worth of CO2 emissions - Mar 22, 2012
- Indian, Israeli experts tap sun for hybrid power plants - Feb 14, 2012
- Chhattisgarh to add 1,500 MW power by 2012 - Nov 22, 2011
- Coal India rolls back recent price hike - Jan 31, 2012
- Global CO2 emissions reach record high in 2010: IEA - May 31, 2011
- GMR eyes 5,000 MW coal-fired operating capacity in three years - Oct 29, 2011
- Low-carbon technology can't fix global warming - Feb 16, 2012
- Durban climate talks: What it means for India? - Dec 15, 2011
- FICCI calls for radical policy reforms in energy sector - May 07, 2012
- Carbon emissions speed up ocean acidification - Jan 23, 2012
- ADB signs JV to develop renewable energy in India - Nov 24, 2010
- GoM to meet on power sector woes, PM offers help (Roundup) - Jan 18, 2012
- Republican lawmakers bat for loan to Reliance Power - Jun 30, 2010
- Coal India asked to streamline supply to power producers - Feb 01, 2012
- Emission pledges not enough to avoid worst consequences of global warming: UN report - Nov 24, 2010
Tags: carbon emission, climate change summit, climate change targets, coal fired plants, coal gas, coal mining, coal production, coal reserves, current fiscal year, energy economy, energy sector, fiscal year ending march, forest areas, forest issues, generation capacity, liquid fuel, megawatts, quality coal, ramesh, year ending march