India Won’t Shift Away From Coal, Minister Tells UN

Benny Peiser's Global Warming Policy Foundation Reports EU Climate Policy Will ‘Completely Destroy Steel Industry’s Profitability'

India has told a high-level energy meeting here that it will not be fair to expect it to move away from coal to meet energy requirements of millions of Indians, underscoring that coal will continue to remain the "mainstay" of its energy needs for the "foreseeable future." --Press Trust of India, 22 May 2015

Just as in all other countries, including the developed world, coal will continue to remain the mainstay of our energy related needs for the foreseeable future. In all fairness, it would not be correct to say or to expect India to move away from coal when we are at the cusp of our developmental journey. -- Indian Energy Minister Piyush Goyal, Press Trust of India, 22 May 2015

Energy ministries from more than 30 nations are meeting at the UN this week, at the Sustainable Development for All Forum, to debate how best to supply electricity to the 1.3 billion people who don’t have it—at least 250 million of whom are Indians. Erasing energy poverty also means more coal for developing countries, and India is the developing world’s most ardent defender of its use. Southeast Asia is adding 205 gigawatts of coal overall by 2020, one of the most intense periods of coal-plant construction ever. --Eric Roston, Bloomberg, 22 May 2015

Gérard Mestrallet, chief executive of Engie, one of the world’s biggest power companies, says fossil fuel electricity generation is on the way out in Europe.“The choice we have made is very clear. We have stopped investing — and so did the others by the way — in thermal power generation in Europe and we are investing in renewables,” he said. Many of Europe’s big power companies have been forced to mothball gas plants and write down assets as they struggle with overcapacity and the growth of subsidised renewables. --Michael Stothard and Pilita Clark, Financial Times, 21 May 2015

The planned increase in the price of European carbon credits would result in "prohibitive cost" for the steel industry the German Steel Federation has warned. If the plans would come true, German steel companies alone would be burdened by additional costs of one billion euros annually until the end of the next decade, Hans Jürgen Kerkhoff, the President of the German Steel Federation said. TKSE board member Herbert Eichelkraut said he expects the implementation to lead to an increase in the price of the steel by about 20 percent. "That would completely destroy our profitability." --Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 21 May 2015

Energy-intensive manufacturers are starting to make investments outside Germany because of its rising energy costs, a trend that will include the copper industry, the ceo of German copper producer Aurubis said. Bernd Drouven said that the closure of Germany’s nuclear plants and high but unrealistic targets in renewables mean companies are taking their planned-growth investments to other countries.“Industry is not likely to move out of Germany – what will happen will be a reallocation of capital, and that is already happening,” he said, noting that in the chemicals industry, large companies are not investing in Germany any more. --Metal Bulletin, 16 April 2015

Rich countries need US$70 billion more to reach the US$100 billion goal of the U.N. Green Climate Fund set up at the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference. A global agreement on funding poor nations will be essential before reaching any climate change deal at the upcoming U.N. Climate Conference which kicks off Nov. 30 in Paris, French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday. “Without any financial commitment, there won’t be an agreement in Paris,” said Hollande at the Sixth Petersberg Climate Dialogue hosted in the German capital of Berlin. --Reuters, 21 May 2015