Press release - March 12, 2007
On the inaugural day of the 6th Coaltrans India conference in Mumbai, Greenpeace India protested against the continued large scale usage of coal, despite its extremely destructive impact on the climate. Greenpeace activists sent a strong signal to key participants like National Thermal Power Corporation, the Indian Ministry of Coal, Power Finance Corporation and Coal India Limited asking them to stop killing the climate and demanded that the Indian government implement a rigorous framework for clean energy usage in order to sustain India’s development.
Delegates at the 6th Coaltrans India conference look on as a masked Greenpeace activist demonstrates against the coal industry's contribution to climate change. Out of all the fossil fuels, coal emits the highest amount of CO2.
Srinivas Krishnaswamy, Greenpeace Campaigner said "This would be
possible only if we reduce our excessive reliance on coal. The
companies promoting coal should have realized by now that coal is
not the only source of electricity; energy efficiency and renewable
energy sources can generate the required amount of electricity
while not increasing CO2 emissions and contributing to global
warming. They should also realize that they are endangering the
future of millions of Indians, especially the poor, our coastal
cities and the economy as a whole by their irresponsible act of
promoting coal while climate friendly options exist".
The latest Report of latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change report concluded in February this year that continuing
business-as-usual practices is likely to increase global average
temperatures between 1.1°C and 6.4° C above 1980-1999 levels by
2095. The Stern report on the "Economics of Climate Change"
published last year estimated the GDP loss to India from climate
change to be as high as 9-13 percent by 2100 compared to what could
have been achieved in a world without climate change. In addition
to this loss in GDP, huge sums of money are spent on natural
calamity relief in India, a bulk of which is now being attributed
to climate change.
The impacts of global warming in the form of severe droughts,
floods and heatwaves, unusual rainfall patterns, sea level rise and
increase in vector borne diseases have already been witnessed in
India. In July 2005, the strongest ever rainfall recorded in India
shut down the financial hub of Mumbai. While Barmer in Rajasthan
experienced floods, the northeast region of the country experienced
a mere 20-30 per cent of rainfall. In the Sunderbans, two islands
have already disappeared and others are vulnerable; wildlife
experts say rising sea levels and coastal erosion caused by global
warming are steadily shrinking the mangroves in the region. Dengue
fever surfaced in New Delhi in March this year, well before the
onset of Monsoon.
Reacting to the new industry buzz word "clean coal", Srinivas
said "there is no such thing as clean coal. It is only a public
relations concept developed by the industry to justify itself in a
world threatened by catastrophic impacts of climate change; even
the most efficient coal-fired power station emits more CO2 than
those using other fuels. If only the coal companies and the
government acted responsibly, we could mitigate such colossal
losses".
For further information, contact
K Srinivas – Climate and Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace India
+91-9845112130; 
Ruchira Talukdar – Greenpeace India Communications
+91-9900264127; 
Notes to Editor
Greenpeace’s political demands:
• A time bound target for energy efficiency measures and increasing renewable energy targets in the country’s energy mix.
• A declaration that India will undertake voluntary emission reductions and that the government will make public its implementation plans.