As India’s clean energy transition gathers pace, declining revenue from fossil fuels could disproportionately affect its coal-producing states. At the same time, state governments that depend on fossil fuel revenue will face increased budgetary pressures to ensure an equitable and just transition.

Coal is the most carbon-intensive major fossil fuel in use today and is deeply entrenched in the power system, but drastic reductions in its consumption are required to achieve net-zero emissions. Accelerating Coal Transitions provides an update on the IEA’s 2022 report Coal in Net Zero Transitions at the request of the Japanese G7 Presidency.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) issued guidelines to achieve 100% utilization of ash with least burden on electricity consumers. These guidelines were a response to recent amendments made in advisories pertaining to ash utilization by Thermal Power Plants (TPPs).

The “Strategy paper on Coal Import Substitution” has been prepared as a report of the IMC (Inter-Ministerial Committee).

Limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5°C requires stopping the construction of new coal power plants, and that many existing plants must retire early before the end of their technical lifetimes. This presents a major challenge as coal supplied more than one-third of global electricity generation in 2023.

This publication provides detailed insights into critical areas such as coal reserves, production, productivity, pit-head closing stock, performance of captive and commercial blocks, grade-wise dispatches to various sectors, import and export statistics, coal washeries, Royalty, DMF, NMET, and more.

The Central Government is promoting the eco-friendly use of ash, especially in ash-based products manufactured by micro and small enterprises. The government has amended the ash utilization notification, originally issued on December 31, 2021. The present notification was published on January 1, 2024.