Do not Just Single out Coal

Do not Just Single out Coal

Subject: Environment

Section: Climate Change

Context: Why should countries of the western world, which have already appropriated the giant share of the carbon budget, be given a free pass on the continued use of natural gas?

Content:

Coal Impacts:

• Burning of coal is bad for our health as it generates emissions that we must not breathe.
• It is burnt in thousands of small- and medium-sized industrial boilers, where pollution abatement is either expensive or impossible to regulate.
• Furthermore, thermal power plants that use coal to generate energy add to local pollution because many units are old and cannot be refurbished and refitted with technologies to control emissions of particulate matter (PM), sulphur dioxide (SO2) or nitrogen oxides (NOx).
• So, to combat local air pollution Delhi has banned the use of coal; it has shut down the last of its aged coal-based thermal plants. Now, it has stopped the use of coal within a radius of 100 km around the city. 
• All industries using coal to fuel their furnaces have been told to move to natural gas or other clean fuels or will be forced to shut down. The ultimate objective is to increase the use of electricity as energy by industries and vehicles, which will come from clean sources, ideally

Natural Gas Impacts:

• In the interim, the solution is to move to Natural gas which is considered cleaner than coal when it comes to local air toxins.
• But,Coal emits carbon dioxide (CO2) and Natural gas emits half of what coal emits in terms of CO2 as well as methane.
• These are not local pollutants, but add to warming because of their long-life in the atmosphere.
• However, the EU has baptised it as “green fuel”. The oil and gas companies are drilling more gas, terming it as the necessary energy source.

Areas of Conflict:

• A recent paper published in Nature Climate discusses how the IPCC underestimates the need to cut down on gas and oil—gas usage needs to only fall down by 14 per cent by 2030, as compared to the complete and unrealistic phase out of coal, which it says must happen in the coming 10 years to stay below 1.5°C.
• They conclude that the 5°C pathway needs drastic emission reductions of coal, and of oil and gas; and that this underestimation puts a huge burden on coal-dependent countries of the South.
• It is said that green hydrogen—manufactured using renewable or other green fuel—is not necessary for the green transition. Blue hydrogen, made from natural gas, is also green if the emissions are abated and CO2 captured. The emphasis is on abatement and not on the phase out of fossil fuel, that is natural gas.
• However, it needs to be understood that both coal and natural gas require strategies for switch, phase out and abatement when it comes to climate change.