Research from group Market Forces reveals that Adani’s words and actions simply don’t match up.
Adani is still building and planning new fossil fuel projects, particularly thermal coal mines and power stations. So much so that according to Global Energy Monitor data the Adani Group is the private sector company with the most proposed new thermal coal mining capacity in the world, second only to state owned Coal India. The company’s actions are not compatible with the goals of the Paris Agreement and the net-zero emissions by 2050 target.
If all of Adani Group’s known extractable coal reserves are burned, Market Forces estimate 10.1 billion tonnes of CO2 will be emitted, with a further 1.6 billion tonnes CO2 from inferred resources in Adani’s three newly acquired coal exploration blocks. Together this is 32% of global energy-related carbon emissions in 2021.
Last year Market Forces compiled a non-exhaustive list of Adani’s new and expanded fossil fuel projects to highlight the hypocrisy between Adani’s words and actions. 12 months later, an update to this research reveals the following:
- None of the new or expanded fossil fuel projects listed in 2021 have been shelved, and several, like the Carmichael and Suliyari thermal coal mines and the Godda coal-burning power station have advanced.
- Adani Power completed its purchase of Essar Power’s 1200 MW Mahan coal fired power project in March 2022, adding another coal power station to its fleet. On 19 August 2022 it announced another 1200MW coal-fired power station purchase due to be finalized in October 2022. All six of the new or expanded coal-burning power station projects highlighted last year (totalling 12 GW) are still on its books.
- Adani Enterprises has purchased five new coal blocks since July 2021 (the Khargaon, Jhigador and Gondkhari coal blocks purchased in August 2021 and the Bijahan and Gondbahera Ujheni East coal blocks purchased in March 2022).
- Adani has shown it is serious about its highly polluting coal-to-plastics proposal, first proposed in 2021. In 2022 Adani approached the State Bank of India to underwrite a loan to fund the development of the project.
- An increase in crude oil capacity at Mundra port and a proposed upgrade to the Haldia dock complex in West Bengal, in order to handle an increased amount of dry bulk goods reported to primarily be coal.
Investors, bankers and insurers of the Adani Group need to be aware of the risks associated with financing a company with fossil fuel plans of this scale. Adani Group’s bond underwriters, including Citibank, HSBC, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, and investors , including TIAA, PIMCO, BlackRock, Loomis Sayles and Apollo Global, are playing a critical role in helping, directly or indirectly, fund new thermal coal projects, and now an operating Carmichael thermal coal mine, which Adani hopes to expand into Australia’s biggest.