The ministry of coal secretary Amrit Lal Meena—on the sidelines of the third Energy Transitions Working Group meeting, a part of the G20 Summit—said around 30 coal mines will be closed over the next three to four years, paving the way for a greener future. The de-coaled lands will be put to environment friendly use by filling them up with fly ash and creating forest cover, agricultural lands, solar plants and water bodies. Coal India and other government agencies that deal in coal mining are set to achieve a net zero target of 5,200 solar power production by 2026. At present, 50 lakh people are directly dependent on coal mining. Keeping that in mind, just transition has to address the challenge. Recently, the Union Ministry of Power’s Central Electricity Authority (CEA) offered updated projections on what India’s energy mix for the power sector could look like in 2030. India generated 73% of its power from coal in 2022-23. The CEA expects this to go down to 55% by 2030. A greater share in the electricity mix will be held by renewable sources, whose generation is expected to rise to 31% in 2030 from 12% at present.
Vietnam approves $135 billion plan to slash coal-powered production by 2030
Vietnam approved a long-anticipated $135 billion plan to slash coal-fired electricity generation by 2030. According to the new plan, titled Power Development Plan 8, only coal power projects that have already been approved and those under construction can proceed. Coal will represent 20% of Vietnam’s energy mix by the end of the decade, down from 50% at present. The Southeast Asian country has the world’s third-largest pipeline of new coal power projects after India and China.
Italian energy group faces lawsuit for contributing to climate change
Leading environmental groups Greenpeace and ReCommon launched a lawsuit against Italian energy group Eni—dealing with fossil fuels—over its contribution to climate change. According to a report in Reuters, the lawsuit was filed “to force a rethink of Eni’s business strategy and stir the Italian government and CDP into playing a stronger role in ensuring that ENI complies with the Paris Agreement (on climate change) and respects human rights.” The Italian economy ministry and Italian state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) jointly control the company with a stake of around 30%.
TotalEnergies sues Greenpeace over claim it ‘underreports’ GHG in emissions report
French oil giant TotalEnergies has sued Greenpeace for a symbolic 1 euro over the environmental group’s claims that the company was likely underreporting its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Greenpeace in a November report claimed that TotalEnergies’ carbon emissions in 2019 “could be almost four times higher” than what was reported.
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