UN chief warns India over ‘bad economics’ of coal

NEW DELHI: With India facing deadly air pollution, high healthcare costs and growing disaster threats from global warming, the head of the United Nations warned the country’s leaders on Friday that investing more in coal was “bad economics”.

India, the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has been ramping up its use of renewable energy — but coal remains its dominant fuel for power production.

“India must end its reliance on polluting, financially volatile and costly fossil fuels,” UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said in a virtual address to environment think-tank The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri).

India must end its reliance on polluting, financially volatile and costly fossil fuels... Investing in fossil fuels... is, simply put, a human disaster and bad economics

“Investing in fossil fuels means more deaths and illness and rising healthcare costs. It is, simply put, a human disaster and bad economics.”

He urged India to instead invest in solar power, which he said could tackle poverty by generating jobs at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has

ANTONIO GUTERRES , UN chief

destroyed livelihoods.

“With the Covid-19 pandemic threatening to push many people back into poverty, such job creation is an opportunity that can’t be missed,” he said, adding that investment in renewable energy creates three times more jobs than fossil fuels.

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