Climate Transparency’s partner in India,TERI, conducted a workshop on transition in India’s coal sector on 15 May 2019.
The workshop was a significant success, with high level participation being achieved and a frank and open discussion conducted. Participants included the Ministry of Coal, Coal India Limited (CIL), trade union representatives, and national and international experts.
The discussion highlighted a number of important conclusions. Firstly, most actors are already convinced that the transition away from coal towards renewables in the power sector is already underway and will accelerate in India. Secondly, there was much discussion on the date for coal peaking and eventual phase out. Finally, the socio-economic aspects of coal transition in India were discussed.
Participants agreed that India faces a much larger transition challenge of providing manufacturing and services employment for the population still occupied in the rural sector. It was also agreed that the coal employment issue is highly concentrated in a few coal producing regions. Even here many actors expressed the view that the coal transition could be managed, and indeed CIL was already looking to reduce its employment and raise productivity.
