Analysis: India Power Binges on Coal, Outpaces Asia

MUMBAI, Nov 18 (Reuters) - India's coal-fired power output has increased much faster than any other country in the Asia Pacific since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, underscoring the challenges the world's third-largest greenhouse gas emitter faces in weaning its economy off of carbon.

Coal fuels nearly three-quarters of the power output of India, which presented its decarbonisation strategy at the United Nation's COP27 climate summit this week - the last of the world's five largest economies to do so.

Use of coal globally, including in power generation, has grown since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February sent prices of other fossil fuels surging, derailing efforts to transition to cleaner fuels.

But the increase in India's coal-fired power output has outstripped its regional peers, data from the government and analysts showed.

India's power ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. When asked about high coal use, the government has previously cited lower per capita emissions compared with richer nations and surging renewable energy output.

India's coal-fired power output increased more than 10 percent year-on-year from March to October to 757.82 terawatt hours, an analysis of government data shows, as electricity demand increased off the back of a heatwave and pickup in economic activity. The government expects this output to grow at the fastest pace in at least a decade in the current fiscal year ending March 2023.

An analysis of data from independent think tank Ember shows India's surge in coal-fired output for the March-to-August period was 14 times faster than the average in Asia Pacific. The heat wave and economic revival following the pandemic meant overall electricity demand grew twice as fast as rest of the region, Ember's data shows.