Indian companies walk the talk on climate change

A recent study by Climate Accountability Institute has ranked Coal India among the top twenty energy companies in the world that have contributed the most to the production of carbon dioxide and methane since 1965. According to this study Coal India’s emissions for the period 1965 to 2017 is 23,124 MtCO2e accounting for 1.71 percent of the global emissions. Before we go into Coal India’s performance, a brief background to the Climate Accountability Institute report.

Estimated Distribution of Reserves of Coal in India as on 31-03-2017 : MoSPI Report

The press release of the Climate Accountability Institute of 9 October 2019 stated, “... the Top Twenty companies have collectively contributed 480 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide and methane, chiefly from the combustion of their products, equivalent to 35% of all fossil fuel and cement emissions worldwide since 1965 (global total of 1.35 trilliontCO2e).” [http://climateaccountability.org/pdf/CAI%20PressRelease%20Top20%20Oct19.pdf] Among the key findings of the study is that if we look over the entire historical data we find the current database of 103 fossil fuel and cement entities emitted 1,221 GtCO2e, or 69.8% of global since 1751 (1.75 TtCO2e); of which the Top Twenty companies are responsible for 526 GtCO2e, or 30% of all fossil fuel and cement emission since 1751. The Institute also argues that these companies have significant moral, financial, and legal responsibility for the climate crisis, and a commensurate burden to help address the problem. Writing in The Guardian, the author of the latest Climate Accountability Institute report, Richard Heede argues strongly for the need to eliminate subsidies and regulatory preferences, and to price carbon so as to “internalise” the vast costs of climate damages now mostly paid by people who did not cause the problem, such as today’s farmers and tomorrow’s children. [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/09/fossil-fuel-giants-greed-carbon-emissions]

So far so good. But when we delve deeper into the research some interesting facts tumble out, which need to get the attention of the wider public.

In an assessment, The Guardian states, “Twelve of the top 20 companies are state-owned and together their extractions are responsible for 20% of total emissions in the same period. The leading state-owned polluter is Saudi Aramco, which has produced 4.38% of the global total on its own.” [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/09/revealed-20-firms-third-carbon-emissions] The Institute’s Training Manual released on 30 September 2019 observes pertinently that Equinor (formerly Statoil) is 67% owned by the Norwegian government, Petrobras is 64% owned by the Government of Brazil, and Gazprom is 50.003% owned by the Russian Federation. In the coal sector, Coal India is 78% owned by the government. Many oil and gas companies in the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa are wholly-owned by their respective states, and thus report production directly to their sole shareholder, and in many cases only report summary data to the public. Further, the Training Manual notes that while roughly 40% of oil & gas companies are state-owned (29 of 72), only two coal companies (Coal India and Singareni Collieries) in their database are state-owned.

Interestingly, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation of India does not figure among the top twenty carbon emitters and the Institute acknowledges the credibility of its production data. Among the oil & gas and coal companies added to the Institute’s list in 2019 were nine from USA, two each from Australia and Argentina, and one each from South Africa, Japan, Russian Federation, Canada, Norway, Ecuador, Turkmenistan and Germany-none at all from India. Yet, the Institute identifies among its potential entities for inclusion one company from India-namely the Adani Group; but five from China and five from the Russian Federation.

A deeper analysis of the the Institute’s study shows that when seen in terms of percent of global emissions for a longer period of 1751 to 2017, Coal India falls to ninth place. In fact the earlier Carbon Majors Report of 2017 from the same Climate Accountability Institute ranked Coal India at sixth place for the period 1988 to 2015, contributing just 1.9 percent of the global GHG emissions for the period, in contrast to emissions by Chinese coal companies which contributed 14.3 percent of the global GHG emissions for the same period. Further according to recent news reports (October 2019), Coal India produced 606.87 million tonnes of coal during the year ended in March 2019 and aims to produce 660 million tonnes this year. But the highest monsoon rainfall in 25 years and frequent strikes have kept output 6% lower than last year during the first six months, with September production falling 23.5%.

Source wise estimated potential of Renewable Power in India as on 31-03-2017 : MoSPI Report

In short, it is clear that there is a manageable challenge due to coal production in India. And a study of the comparative data shows that India has been doing better in terms of reducing emissions due to coal production over the years. On the other hand, the highly reputed National Geographic assessed in September 2019 that “India has emerged as a global leader in renewable energy, and in fact it is investing more in them than it is in fossil fuels. Having established a goal of generating 40 percent of its power through renewables by 2030, its progress has been so rapid that it could easily reach that target a decade early, so there is every opportunity for India to increase that target. CAT [Climate Action Tracker] calculates that India’s plan is compatible with a 2 degree C increase, but that its National Energy Plan could be 1.5 degrees C compatible if the country abandoned plans to build new coal-fired power plants.” [https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/09/climate-change-report-card-co2-emissions/]

---

http://linkedin.com/in/dr-sunod-jacob-ab310225