Vivekananda International Foundation brings out a Policy Brief titled Why does India still need coal? Rich countries vilify coal with India as a specific target, while expanding on their own oil and gas resources. Nations like the UK, the USA, and Germany that amassed all their wealth based on coal now push for its phase-out, even as their fossil fuel use rises every passing year. Between 1900 and 2022, India's coal production was only 3.04% of the world’s total production.

India’s coal consumption today is ~1 billion tonnes per year which is nearly same as that of USA in 2007, with roughly 1/4th of India’s population. India’s coal consumption places it globally after China, which consumed about 4.9 billion tonnes last year, or about the same as the rest of the world combined. India’s coal consumption annually is <700 kg per capita, which is about 1/5th of China and a little over half of the world’s average. China’s per capita energy emissions are ~78% higher than the world average.

India’s energy transition balances renewables, clean coal, and economic resilience. This replaces prescriptive Western models with a pragmatic, self-driven path to sustainability.