India on Monday made it clear to the developed nations that reduction of coal consumption is not a one-day process and the Government has a long-term plan to gradually replace coal with renewable energy. 

Developed countries have been blaming the developing countries like India that tackling climate change is impossible without reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, especially coal.

“Reduction of coal is not a one-day process. We have a plan in place. A long-term plan where we will replace coal with renewable energy slowly to achieve the goal announced by the prime minister to reach 450 gigawatt,” said Union Environment Secretary C K Mishra while addressing the first day of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) here.

“But plants which are already coal based, will continue to consume coal,” Mishra said.

On the issue of reducing coal consumption and carbon emissions, he said, “We have already 80 gigawatts renewable energy replace coal in last 5 years and we are moving towards it but we cannot deny that coal will still continue to be required for some time in India”.

The secretary also acknowledged that the demand for electricity in India will continue to rise due to which coal cannot be totally banned. He said this does not mean that the government is not working on the process to replace coal with alternative renewable energy.

“The demand for electricity in India will continue to rise. That does not mean we are not quickening the process of replacement.

“We already have 80 gigawatt of renewable in last 2-3 years. Ultimate idea is reduction of coal but we cannot deny that coal will still continue to be required for some time in India,” Mishra said.

The IPCC Working Group III is working on the Sixth Assessment Report to mitigate climate change with over 200 authors, in which 12 are from India.