Developed countries have messed up our planet. Right from the days of the industrial revolution, they cut and burnt trees, scooped millions of tonnes of coal out of the earth, moved it about in large, fuel-guzzling vehicles and burnt it indiscriminately. Through these activities they put unimaginably large volumes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Some time around the 1850s, carbon dioxide accounted for 270 out of every million parts in the atmosphere; today, it is 400 parts — and 80 per cent of the increase was caused by the developed countries. Actually, that is how they ‘developed’ themselves … by mucking up the environment.
Carbon budget
Now, scientists are saying that if you reach 450, you are in trouble. The ‘allowed’ 50 is sometimes referred to as the ‘carbon budget’ the world has. And if the world goes on in business-as-usual mode, the 450 parts per million watermark will be reached by 2035.
When you put carbon dioxide (and a few other gases) out into the atmosphere, they form a blanket up there and do not allow certain wavelengths of reflected sunlight to be radiated back into space and, what have you … the earth warms up. To know the consequences of that, you might want to refer back to an earlier Cleantech column (‘Earth in peril’, May 28).
Developed world
Right now, the point is that the developed countries are saying, ‘we should stop putting carbon dioxide out into the atmosphere’.
We, the developing countries, are indignant. ‘You guys mucked up the atmosphere and got yourselves nice cosy lifestyles. Now, when we want to improve our standards of living a bit, you hector us?’
Fair point, right? Fair indeed, but here fairness is of little relevance. Because, the developed countries turn around and say, ‘fine, let’s not do anything and let us go on burning oil, coal and wood’, and it won’t do us any good. We, the developing countries, are more vulnerable to climate change. We, Indians, are particularly so, given the country’s unique geographical characteristics.
They might escape the wrath of the earth with minor punishment but we will end up bearing the brunt of it. To put it graphically, they may lose one eye, but we will lose both.
Economic growth
Look at our dilemma. We need to lift millions out of poverty, and for that we need economic growth. Economic growth cannot happen without energy. Coal is the biggest (and cheapest) source of energy we have. To put it hyperbolically, coal is to India what oil is to Saudi Arabia.
We have 300 billion tonnes of coal and we dig out 500 million every year — which means, at the current rate of consumption, we are good to go for the next 600 years. How can we not use such a resource?
On the other hand, if we burn coal, we kill ourselves climate-wise. More of our poorer cousins will be dead, but our richer cousins, the developed countries, will escape with some bruises.
That is the dilemma. We should not burn coal, and yet, we cannot but do that. Is there a way out? There sure is. Just find a way to use coal in such a manner that it does not harm the atmosphere.
Alternative technologies
This bring us to the world of ‘clean coal technologies’, which basically convert coal into either liquid coal or ‘synthetic gas’, in which process it is possible to remove the harmful constituents of coal such as sulphur. But truly, these are not ‘clean coal technologies’, because there is no way you can burn coal without avoiding carbon dioxide release.
After all, coal is carbon and burning mixes it with oxygen — how can you not end up with carbon dioxide.
There is only one way of using coal without harming the atmosphere — capture the carbon dioxide and bury it deep under the ground. This is called ‘carbon capture and sequestration’, or CCS.
The future of India lies embedded in CCS. Here is the sad part. India, which cannot but use coal, ought to have researched, developed and fine-tuned CCS. But we are laggards. The country’s biggest coal power producer, NTPC, is on the fringes of research, when it ought to be working on power projects with commercial-scale CCS in place.
Very new
True, CCS is very new. Though the technology has been known for some time, the first commercial-scale CCS plant came up in October 2014, in Canada. When the Boundary Dam project went on stream, it was a big day for the global coal industry.
Today, about 25 CCS projects are coming up in many parts of the world. Regrettably, not one of them is in India.
Now, let us get back to where we started — the guilt of the developed countries. If India has no option but to use coal, and if CCS is the only way to do it responsibly, and if the problem with CCS is that it is frightfully expensive — let the developed countries pay for it.
Having lost ground on CCS research, the country should try to get funds for installing CCS, at least in the upcoming coal-based power plants. The rich guys recognise that what has happened to the atmosphere is primarily their fault, and that they have to pay for it. They have made big ‘pledges’. But when it comes to opening their wallets, they back out.
There is an opportunity to pump those global-warmers for money at the upcoming Paris conference on climate talks — the 21st Conference of Parties. The conference will be an arena where the rich and the not-so-rich jostle to divvy up the responsibility for keeping climate change from going out of hand.
So, keep an eye on the Paris conference. India has much at stake in what happens there.