The world is highly dependent on fossil fuels, which produce 80% of the total energy supplied. In 2022, oil, coal, and gas accounted for 30%, 27%, and 23% of the world’s total energy, while solar and wind energy sources together contributed only 2.4%. Further, the per capita energy supplied in India during 2022 was 37% of the global average, and only 26% of that of China. Since per capita energy is directly related to the Human Development Index, we can expect that India’s energy needs will continue to grow in the foreseeable future.
Electricity security is achieved only by having a reliable and stable supply of electricity that can always match the demand at an affordable price. Only 10.4% of the 36.44 exajoules of India’s primary energy consumption in 2022 are from renewables (hydroelectric, solar, and wind); coal and oil gas account for 55.1% and 33.3%, respectively. Coal-fired thermal power plants (TPPs) generated 74.3% of India’s electricity during FY 2022-2023; generation by TPPs continues to grow to meet demand. The country’s coal sector plays a vital role in infrastructure development and in the power, steel, cement, and aluminium industries, which employ millions of people.
Further, India’s cumulative emissions from fossil fuels and industry between the start of the industrial revolution in 1750 and the end of 2021 are only 3.3% of the global total, far behind those of Europe (31%), the U.S. (24.3%), and China (14.4%). Fulfilling the development needs of 17% of the world’s population, which lives in India, is also a fundamental duty to which we must attend, failing which ‘sustainable development’ will simply be an empty catchphrase.
