UN climate summit: India refrains from signing pledges to phase out coal

India has refrained from signing a pledge on tripling renewable energy capacity as its draft text made references to phasing out electricity generated using coal and ending investments in coal-fired power plants, The Indian Express reported on Monday.

The Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge proposes to triple global renewable energy capacity to 11,000 gigawatts by 2030. The pledge was signed by 118 countries at the United Nations’ annual climate change summit in Dubai on Saturday.

Plans for a global declaration on rapidly increasing renewable energy capacity were first tabled as a concrete proposal during the Group of 20 negotiations in September in New Delhi.

The United States and Brazil, the second and the third-largest renewable energy generators after China, signed the pledge. India comes fourth on the list with 170 gigawatts of installed renewable energy capacity.

India plans to expand this to 500 gigawatts by 2030 but also considers hydropower from large dams as a renewable energy source, a matter on which there is global disagreement, The Hindu reported.

India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said on Thursday that India’s economic imperatives do not allow for “a sudden abandonment of coal, as is often demanded” He said that coal “is and would remain an important part of India’s energy mix”.

India also opted out of the COP28 Declaration on Climate...

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