G20 Summit 2023: Members Agree To Phase Down Unabated Coal Power At Sherpa Meet
08 Sep 2023
India’s proposal to expand “phasedown of unabated coal power” to
“phase-down of fossil fuel” ran into stiff opposition from Saudi Arabia and
Russia
India’s proposal to expand it to “phase-down of fossil fuel” ran into stiff opposition from Saudi Arabia and Russia, people aware of the matter told The Economic Times.
The “phasedown
of coal power”, agreed on in earlier declarations, is in the context of energy
efficiency and in line with national circumstances, and does not impinge on
India’s energy security, the people said.
The cue was
taken from the Bali declaration where the phrase “phasedown of unabated coal
power” found agreement among all members. The language has also been used
earlier in the UNFCCC Glasgow Climate Pact and the Sharm el-Sheikh
Implementation Plan. Unabated coal power is generally understood to mean coal
power without carbon capture utilisation and storage.
There was no mention of a phasedown of coal power at the outcome of the G20
Energy Transition ministerial meeting in July, a prelude to the leaders’
summit.
The Energy
Transition Working Group had discussed the nuances of phasedown of fossil fuel
for their joint outcome. Facing opposition from Saudi Arabia, Russia, China and
South Africa, the text, among other paragraphs, was moved to ‘Chair’s Summary’
instead.
The four
countries had also disagreed on the reference to the role of renewable energy
in energy transitions and tripling of renewable energy capacities.
However, there was a fresh attempt at the Sherpa meeting to include phasedown
of ‘fossil fuel’, and triple the renewable energy capacity, among others, in
the Leaders’ Declaration, they said.
During the
deliberations, attempts were made to use alternatives to “coal power”, but they
were not acceptable to other members, one of the persons said.
Some suggestions were made by members like France to use “phasedown of greenhouse
gas emitting sources, including coal” and Russia for using a “phasedown of
easily replaceable emission intensive fuel” which didn’t find consensus.
India has to
continue using coal for a long time even though it has been leading in the
addition of clean-energy capacities, another person said. The G20 energy
ministers meeting in July had accepted encouraging mature clean energy
technologies including carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS). CCUS can
be used to capture carbon generated during coal-based electricity generation,
but it is still very expensive. Thermal power, mostly coal, still forms 56% of
India’s installed capacity and is the base load for the country’s electricity
requirement even as India has set ambitious targets to bring down emissions.
Goldman Sachs,
in a report in July, said it expects 23 GW incremental coal capacity addition
requirement above the government’s target of 48GW by FY32, to meet peak
shortages.