UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Antonio Guterres on Friday renewed his call on India and other G20 countries to invest in a clean and sustainable transition as they recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, expressing deep concern over the continued support for polluting fossil fuels by nations across the world.
UN Secretary-General Guterres, virtually delivering the 19th Darbari Seth Memorial Lecture by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), said that clean energy and closing the energy access gap are good business.
“They are the ticket to growth and prosperity. Yet, here in India, subsidies for fossil fuels are still some seven times more than subsidies for clean energy,” he said.
Coal subsidies in 2019-20 amounted to USD 2.06 billion, with overall subsidies to fossil fuels at USD 11 billion, he said.
Guterres praised India for raising the proportion of renewable energy in its total consumption to 24 per cent from 17 per cent despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said that coal-fired power use has declined by 10 per cent to 66 per cent from 76 per cent.
The UN chief said that investments in renewable energy generate triple the number of jobs created by investments in fossil fuels.
“With the COVID-19 pandemic threatening to push many people back into poverty, such job creation is an opportunity that can't be missed,” Guterres said.
Apart from issues of job creation and concerns about pollution and climate change, coal power plants are likely to become “stranded assets,” he said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar presided over the event and delivered the Presidential Address.
The UN chief described as “deeply troubling” the continued support for fossil fuels in so many places around the world.
“I have asked all G20 countries, including India, to invest in a clean, green transition as they recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. This means ending fossil fuel subsidies, placing a price on carbon pollution and committing to no new coal after 2020,” Guterres said.
The Secretary-General elaborated that in India, 50 per cent of coal will be uncompetitive in 2022, reaching 85 per cent by 2025.
“This is why the world’s largest investors are increasingly abandoning coal. They see the writing on the wall. It spells stranded assets and makes no commercial sense. The coal business is going up in smoke,” he said.
Guterres said that he is “increasingly concerned” about the several 'negative trends” and pointed out that G20 recovery packages show that twice as much recovery money has been spent on fossil fuels as clean energy.
“In some cases, we are seeing countries doubling down on domestic coal and opening up coal auctions. This strategy will only lead to further economic contraction and damaging health consequences.
“We have never had more evidence that pollution from fossil fuels and coal emissions severely damages human health and leads to much higher healthcare system costs,” Guterres said.
India in June launched the auction process for coal blocks for commercial mining. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the auction process for 41 coal blocks for commercial mining, a move that opened India's coal sector for private players, and had termed it a major step in the direction of India achieving self-reliance.
Presently, despite being the world's fourth largest producer, India is the second largest importer of the dry-fuel, Modi had said.
“Allowing private sector in commercial coal mining is unlocking resources of a nation with the world's fourth-largest reserves,' he had pointed out.
Modi had said that the launch of the auction process not only marked the beginning of unlocking of the country's coal sector from the lockdown of decades, but aimed at making India the largest exporter of coal.
Guterres lauded the developed economies and many developing nations for leading by example by shifting to green solutions to meet their energy demands amid the pandemic.
He cited the example of South Korea, the United Kingdom and Germany, as well as the European Union for speeding up decarbonisation of their economies in their domestic stimulus and investment plans in response to COVID-19.
He noted that these countries are shifting from unsustainable fossil fuels to clean and efficient renewables, and investing in energy storage solutions, such as green hydrogen.