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Coal is dirty -- it makes up for 40 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, its mining wreaks havoc on the environment and burning it produces pollutants like mercury which are linked to acid rain and particulate matter that causes respiratory illnesses. But the war in Ukraine has caused a mini-energy crisis globally, pushing its use to record levels this year. And India, the world's third largest energy consumer, was at the forefront of the global rise in coal usage as it fell back on the easiest available fossil fuel in the face of a surge in oil and gas prices that threatened to derail the economic recovery from the pandemic. The trends of coal consumption and production this year indicate that the dirty fuel is here to stay despite the nation's ambitious target of meeting 50 per cent of energy requirements from renewable energy and non-fossil fuel capacity of 500 GW by 2030. India's coal consumption has doubled since 2007 at an annual growth rate of 6 per cent an