Environmental Scenario in India

5  Environmental costs of coal-based thermal power generation in India

Notion and estimation

Shrabani Mukherjee

Introduction

The recent discussions on sustainable development and climate change related challenges are centred on greenhouse gases (GHGs)¹ emissions and global warming. The discussions since the Rio Summit (1992) has culminated in the introduction of the Kyoto Protocol (1997), which enforces a binding commitment on industrialized countries to reduce their emissions of GHGs by 5.2 per cent below the level prevailing in 1990 (Gupta 2007). Though developing countries are not yet subject to a reduction commitment on this front, their developed counterparts are putting increasing pressure on more advanced developing countries (e.g. Brazil, ...