As India logs historic emissions drop, expert warns govt against 'policy blunders'

By A Representative 

In a significant development that underscores the rapid transformation of India's energy landscape, new data reveals the country recorded its largest drop in power sector emissions in 2025. However, a top power sector analyst has urged the Union Government to view this "silver lining" as a stark warning against continuing to invest in new coal, large hydro, and nuclear projects, which he argues could become "redundant" stranded assets.

In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, and the Ministers for Power and New & Renewable Energy, Shankar Sharma, a Power & Climate Policy Analyst and former professional with the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), has drawn attention to two critical reports published by Down to Earth.

The first report, based on data from Climate TRACE, confirmed that India recorded its largest emissions drop in 2025, driven primarily by a decline in pollution from the power sector. The second, an analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), noted that India’s coal power generation fell by 3% in 2025, even as electricity demand and economic growth continued to rise. CREA attributed this shift to the "rapid expansion of renewable energy" beginning to reshape the electricity mix.

"Based on Central Electricity Authority projections, sustaining annual renewable additions of around 50 GW would leave 'no headroom for coal-based power generation to grow between now and 2030,'" Sharma quoted from the CREA report, highlighting that while coal capacity might increase, its actual generation is expected to remain flat or decline, pushing plant load factors steadily lower.

A Question of Billions: The Case Against New Fossil Fuel Plants

Sharma, who has over 45 years of experience in the power sector across India, New Zealand, and Australia, used these findings to question the very foundation of the country's current capacity addition plans.

In his communication, seen by this reporter, he pointed to three crucial facts that he believes are being overlooked:

1. The Immense Solar Potential: He noted that even 1% of India's solar power potential could generate about 25 times the total electricity produced in the country in the last financial year.

2. The Financial and Ecological Cost: Continued investment in fossil fuel plants carries "huge financial as well as ecological impacts."

3. Questioning the Need for Alternatives: He credibly questioned the necessity for additional large dam-based hydro projects and nuclear power plants, arguing that a well-designed mix of solar, wind, and bioenergy, supported by Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), could reliably meet the nation's electricity demand for the next 40-50 years.

"The primary question in the Power sector should be to challenge the very need for massive financial as well as natural resource investments for additional fossil fuel based, dam based and nuclear based power plants," Sharma writes in his letter. He warned that proceeding with such plans could lead to "bad investments or idle investment," which may be rendered redundant by the plummeting costs and rapid scaling of renewable energy.

Call for a Critical Rethink in National Electricity Policy 2026

Sharma’s intervention comes at a crucial juncture, as the government is in the process of drafting the new National Electricity Policy, 2026. He has urged the ministries to use this opportunity to critically re-examine the nation's approach to electricity supply and demand.

He has offered to make a detailed presentation to the government, drawing on his decades of experience, including his tenure at the CEA.

The letter serves as a powerful reminder that while the emissions drop in 2025 is a positive sign, the real test for policymakers lies in whether they can pivot decisively away from traditional baseload power paradigms and embrace a future powered by renewables, avoiding costly policy missteps that could burden the Indian economy and ecology for decades to come.