Extreme temperatures are driving electricity consumption surges, pushing up demand for fuel from vast pits like Gevra’s in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh.
Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg
India’s Workers Are Trapped In a Vicious Cycle Of Coal and Heat
Continued reliance on the dirtiest fossil fuel means the world’s most populous nation is making its climate troubles worse.
Standing by vast, ash-colored coalfields, miner Rabi Behera expressed few doubts about the job at hand. To cope with increasingly brutal temperatures, India has to keep its power grid standing— and for now that means digging up ever expanding quantities of the dirtiest fossil fuel.
“It’s hard to survive without electricity during the summer,” he said, giant trucks rumbling past in clouds of black dust. “Our production target is raised every year. Every year we’re producing more coal.”