PATRATU, India — Shanti Munda looked over her farm and seemed satisfied. Her patch of land was small, but the crop was healthy. Like others in her village, Bicha of Patratu district in east India’s Jharkhand state, Shanti was mainly a rice farmer. In the last few years, however, she shifted her focus to millet as she foresaw difficult times ahead.
To meet its net-zero target, India will have to make a giant leap from fossil fuels to greener energy sources. At the 26th United Nations Climate Conference, or COP26, in 2021, India committed itself to a net-zero carbon emissions target by 2070. Currently, India is heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Coal alone accounts for 55% of the country's energy needs. With nearly 400 coal mines, India is the world’s second-largest producer and consumer of coal after China.
To phase out this dependence, between 2014 and 2021, India scaled up its renewable energy capacity by 250%. It now ranks fourth in renewable energy capacity in the world. The country also plans to shut down 30 coal mines over the next three to four years. But this could spell doom for thousands of families, such as Shanti’s, that depend on the fossil fuel industry for their livelihood.