There is good news out there, even if it feels like scraps in a world on the brink. Some came last week – with plenty of caveats – when analysts at the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) found coal-fired power generation decreased in both China and India last year.
This is a potentially big shift. Among other things, it exposes the hollowness of arguments in Australia that there is no point doing anything about the climate crisis because the big Asian economies are building endless new coal plants.
China and India are easily the world’s most populous countries, and two of the three biggest emitters. Both need to act faster, along with developed countries, if the world is to limit climate damage.
The drop in Indian coal generation was in part due to the country’s largest ever increase in renewable energy generation – a 20% rise in a year. The surge coincided with a strong early monsoon that cooled the weather and meant people used less electricity.
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