The Coal Paradox: Balancing Energy Security and Environmental Survival in a Climate-Critical Era

Registration ID: IJNRD_311383

Published ID: IJNRD2512287

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S. Ramaswamy, V. Sutha, V. Kaveri

Coal Environmental Impact; Just Transition; Energy Security; Climate Change Mitigation; Sustainable Development

This extensive investigation explores the fundamental contradiction inherent in coal's role within modern global energy architectures, chronicling its evolution from the foundational element of industrial advancement to the principal barrier impeding climate stabilisation efforts. Although coal enabled extraordinary economic transformation across two centuries, it currently represents the most carbon-dense fossil energy source, accounting for roughly 0.3°C of the 1.1°C elevation in planetary temperatures recorded since the pre-industrial epoch. Throughout 2025, worldwide coal utilisation attained an unprecedented 8.85 billion tonnes, exposing a critical inconsistency: despite rapid renewable infrastructure proliferation, coal dependency endures, especially within developing nations where energy sovereignty considerations outweigh proximate environmental imperatives. This investigation systematically chronicles coal's entire lifecycle ramifications, encompassing extraction-stage destruction featuring permanent terrain degradation through mountaintop removal operations, subsurface water poisoning via acid mine drainage phenomena, and substantial coal mine methane releases extending through transportation's airborne particulate contamination impacting adjacent residential populations, culminating in combustion's discharge of greenhouse gases and hazardous contaminants triggering acute pulmonary pathologies. The research documents water-demanding operations producing thermal contamination that destroys aquatic biological systems, while permeable coal ash containment structures establish intergenerational environmental burdens, illustrated by catastrophes including the Kingston Fossil Plant incident. Financially, the investigation identifies an emerging $900 billion stranded asset vulnerability as carbon valuation frameworks and declining renewable expenses render coal portfolios progressively nonviable. The metallurgical coal domain presents distinctive obstacles, with 70% of worldwide steel fabrication reliant upon blast furnace methodologies lacking commercially viable substitutes. This study establishes that "clean coal" innovations encompassing Carbon Capture and Storage alongside High-Efficiency Low-Emission facilities deliver merely incremental enhancements inadequate for Paris Agreement compliance. Securing the 1.5°C threshold necessitates a 55% contraction in coal consumption by 2030 and virtually complete elimination by 2040. The research concludes that effective transformation requires an integrated "Just Transition" architecture encompassing immediate prohibition of novel coal infrastructure, environmental cost internalisation through carbon pricing, fossil fuel subsidy termination, and internationally funded workforce development initiatives, especially safeguarding vulnerable populations throughout India's Coal Belt and Appalachian territories.

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S. Ramaswamy, V. Sutha, & V. Kaveri (December-2025). The Coal Paradox: Balancing Energy Security and Environmental Survival in a Climate-Critical Era. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NOVEL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, 10(12), c716-c725. https://ijnrd.org/papers/IJNRD2512287.pdf

Volume 10 Issue 12, December-2025

Pages : c716-c725

Paper Reg. ID: IJNRD_311383

Published Paper Id: IJNRD2512287

Research Area: Other area not in list

Author Type: Indian Author

Country: -, -, India

Published Paper PDF: https://ijnrd.org/papers/IJNRD2512287.pdf

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