Time to shift from carbon to zero carbon

Pakistan is currently working four coal plants while four others are under construction in different parts of the country and all projects are operational under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Project.

It is to mention here that coal is a major part of the generation mix. The year 2019-2020 saw 19 percent of the power generation in the country, coming from just four coal-fired CPEC power plants.

Sahiwal Coal Power plant project named as Huaneng Shandong Ruyi (Pakistan) Energy (Limited) in Qadirabad is a mega coal power project, which is a part of CPEC.

The power plant is located about (12 mi) from Sahiwal and (9.3 mi) from Okara cantonment, just north of the road which connects the two towns, in Pakistan’s Punjab Province.

It was initiated to overcome the electricity shortage in Pakistan. China invested $1.912 billion on this particular project in collaboration with the Pakistani Government.

The 4.62 GW of CPEC funded coal-fired generation includes the 1,320 MW Huaneng Shandong Ruyi-Sahiwal Coal Power Plant, the 1,320 MW Port Qasim Coal Fired Power Plant, the 1,320 MW HubCo Coal fired power plant and the 660 MW Engro Thar Coal Power Plant which started supplying electricity to the national grid between 2017 and 2019.

In 2014, the population of Qadariabad was 102,555 and now the population has decreased to 32,555. Why?

During the trailblazing of the Sahiwal Coal Power Project in 2014, Nawaz Sharif had told locals they will be rewarded according to their demands if they cooperate with them in this project but now the people and the farmers of the region tell a different story. The total land occupied by the project is 1012, acer and 7 marla. At what price the Government purchased this land is still unfolding. The company claims that they purchase the land from the government and have no idea how much the government paid to the people.

“We own the land of our forefathers as farming is our occupation but in 2014 when the government showed their will to purchase the land, we did not have any other option because they just wanna purchase at any coast. We had a total of 1 acre of land owned by me, my brothers and sons. Mr. Ishaq told his story.

“We left Qadirabad after that and purchased our houses in the city, my sons are now in Karachi engaged in different businesses but I missed my land. Government never helped us in purchasing any land in alternative places or starting any business, even the government promised the natives to provide clean water, schools and a small health dispensary, but all were just false claims, he further added.

The mega project is affecting life in the area by burning 16,667 tonne coal daily and throwing ashes and smoke into the air. 

The report of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) conducted by the National Engineering Services Pakistan (Nespak) to assess the impacts of a 1,360MW coal power plant project on fertile agriculture land has suggested many steps including proper system of fuel wastage, 30,000 tree plantation with the height of 6 to 7 feet ,compensation   for the farmers in form of agricultural land and compensation of crops too and the most important suggestion was to employ an environment expert in the company.

People who sale their land left Qadarbad, they did not get any compensation in form of land, some did buy land but on their own. Talking about the environmental effects, just wash a white cloth/shirt and put it on a rope to dry in air, you will find a comparatively dark shirt after some hours, air is that much polluted.

Villagers say the power plant has impacted not only their health, but changed the whole view of life once they were living. Their houses were surrounded by green fields as far as the eye could see. They remember what it felt like to breathe fresh air. And they remember the sense of ownership they felt towards their land.

Tim Flannery in” Atmosphere of hope” (2015) said, “In northern China, air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels, principally coal, is causing people to die on an average of 5.5 years sooner than they otherwise might.”

“We are using the latest technology in a coal power plant which is called Super Critical technology”. They used imported coal from South Africa, because the burning quality of Pakistani coal is not good and this coal first landed by ships on Karachi port and a special rail lane used to transport this coal to Sahiwal coal power plant. China’s workers told

While experts claim that the coal used in the plant is of the worst in quality, known as ‘lignite-based coal’ with a calorific value of less than 3000 kcal. It takes 1 kg of coal to make 1 unit of electricity while normal coal, as imported and used in Sahiwal power plant, uses just 0.4 kg per unit of electricity. That means that the amount of smoke produced by coal power plants is 2.5 times that of Sahiwal coal power plant for each unit. Hence the output is not satisfactory and hence leaves very little for labor economical share.

The levels of various environmental contaminants in the ambient atmosphere such as toxic gases, including Sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide and (ultra)fine particulate matter, is significantly increased than their previous(acceptable) levels in the air, an environmentalist from the University of Agriculture Faisalabad added.

At the Climate Ambitions Summit held in December 2020 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, Prime Minister Imran Khan made three commitments that Pakistan will

a) generate 60pc of her energy from renewable resources,           

b) ensure that 30pc of vehicles in the country will be electric vehicles (EV)

c) not pursue coal plants and there will be no coal power plants in Pakistan.

In August 2020, the Pakistan government formally approved the Alternative and Renewable Energy Policy 2019. The new policy aims to boost the share of electricity generated from renewable sources from around 5 per cent at present to 20 per cent by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030.

Just a few weeks ahead of COP26, China, the world’s biggest public financier of coal, announced that it will end investments in overseas coal projects. It raised hope in countries that want to make low-carbon energy plans and panic among those who feel they cannot do without coal.

“We believe green is the way to go,” Asad Umar, Pakistan’s federal minister for planning, development and special initiatives said. “We have always been very critical of the imported coal plants that we inherited from the previous government,”

Pakistan has the hottest place on the earth that means it is largely facing the adverse effects of climate change without having any kind of role in the emission of greenhouse gases. Pakistan is a country that has really shifted its direction and it has shown to the world that what can be done if you have the right vision about climate change,” Pakistan has shut down two coal-powered power plants having a capacity of 2,400 megawatts and initiated hydel power plants that will generate 3,700 megawatts of electricity,” he added.

 “The world must come up with nature-based solutions and it should also provide funds to those developing countries like Pakistan that are being affected by negative impacts of climate change,” he further added.