According to CAT or Climate Action Tracker’s newly released data shows that India reducing usage of coal drastically and slowly becoming a champion in reducing global carbon emissions , at this rate global leadership on climate change is bound to change. Ironically India was almost accused of derailing the Paris Agreement due to their defiance to cut down on coal usages because most of its antique power plants are coal based. But since then a lot has changed , current PM Modi’s government has stepped up, from new solar park to nuclear power plant, hydroelectric power plants to wind turbines plants etc. India leaving no stone upturned to get rid of the tag as one of the highest carbon emitter.
China is not far behind , China’s fight against global warming has been commendable. Interestingly china is also aggressively investing in indias energy market, even though their investment in India’s coal power sector has taken a hit due to Indian governments decision to cut usage of coal power.
Data also shows that United States most likely to lag behind of Paris Agreement pledges due to newly elected President Donald Trumps decision to rollback US policies and pledges.
“The highly adverse rollbacks of US climate policies by the Trump Administration, if fully implemented and not compensated by other actors, are projected to flatten US emissions instead of continuing on a downward trend,” said Prof Niklas Höhne, of NewClimate Institute.
A few years back India and China stopping or even reducing usage of coal powered energy was almost unthinkable.
“Five years ago, the idea of either China or India stopping—or even slowing—coal use was considered an insurmountable hurdle, as coal-fired power plants were thought by many to be necessary to satisfy the energy demands of these countries,” said Bill Hare of Climate Analytics. “Recent observations show they are now on the way toward overcoming this challenge.”
Meanwhile Germany has become one of the major developed country to generate 95% of its energy from nature.