
At the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York City on Sept. 25, Michael Bloomberg listens to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discuss his plans for adding more renewables to the country's grid. |
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced plans to more than doubled his country's renewable generation target but on Sept. 25 added that India will not change its plan to use existing coal reserves to help meet its development needs.
At the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York on Sept. 23, Modi announced India had raised its renewables goal to 450 GW by 2030, compared to the previous target of 175 GW. Speaking two days later at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York, Modi noted that India has 120 GW of renewables and said he will use policy initiatives and incentives to achieve the new target.
India has additional environmental objectives, Modi said. In early October, the prime minister expects to announce a "large campaign to end the use of single-use plastic." Modi also noted that the country is looking to tackle water sustainability challenges through such things as rainwater harvesting, revitalizing rivers and water reuse and recycling. The prime minister additionally mentioned a desire to include disaster resilience in infrastructure planning to adapt to climate change.
But when pressed by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg of Bloomberg Philanthropies on whether Modi has "any expectations of reducing the amount of coal that is burnt in India," the prime minister indicated he does not.
India has the third-largest coal reserves in the world, he said. "For a poor country like India, we cannot ignore it." But Modi also suggested that the country can both improve its mining practices to be more environmentally friendly and potentially eventually turn to coal gasification, a process whereby coal, oxygen and steam are put under high pressures and temperatures to form synthesis gas.
"By doing coal gasification, we can make use of clean energy" for transportation or electricity, he said.
"With the assets India has, we cannot deny them, but at the same time, we want to see how we can use these assets in an environmentally friendly way," Modi said.
