Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,
India's coal power generation did not grow between the first half of 2024 and the first half of 2026, for the first such two-year period in over 50 years in which coal power has remained flat in the world's second-largest coal consumer, a new analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) for Carbon Brief showed.
"The period from the first half of 2024 to the first half of 2026 saw the largest increase in non-fossil power generation on record in India," Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), wrote in the analysis.
Moreover, the clean energy boom led to the first time in more than 50 years that India has seen no growth in coal power generation over a two-year period, even as electricity demand grew overall.
Despite the record clean energy growth, India continues to pursue major capital investments in fossil fuels, including new coal-power capacity, plans for conversion of coal-to-chemicals, and efforts to boost domestic coking coal production for the steel sector, CREA noted.
A total of 43 gigawatts (GW) of coal-power capacity was under construction in India as of the end of June 2026, according to the analysis.
Overall coal-fired capacity installations in India continue to rise, and coal remains a key pillar of India's electricity mix - about two-thirds of total power output.
Despite booming renewable capacity additions, India continues to rely on coal to meet most of its power demand as authorities also look to avoid blackouts in cases of severe heat waves.
Coal will still be a key part of India's power system for the next two decades, Rajnath Ram, adviser for energy at the government policy think tank, NITI Aayog, said at the end of last year.
"We cannot be subjective about coal. The question is how sustainably we can use it," the official noted.
Tyler Durden Sun, 09/20/2026 - 19:30Update: The situation for Merz's party just went from "disaster" to full Titanic as projections signal the CDU will get just 4.9% of the vote - below the critical threshold required to enter parliament...
This would be the first time the CDU failed to enter state parliament since the founding of the federal republic in 1949.
Two days ago Friedrich Merz said Germany was "a country of immigration."
Today, his party collapsed. 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/d8dvWPe92r
Merz's approval rating is at a record low...
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's political troubles deepened as exit polls put his Christian Democrats on course for their worst-ever result in a state election.
MERZ'S CDU PARTY POSTS WORST RESULT EVER IN A GERMAN STATE VOTE
AFD AHEAD OF SOCIAL DEMOCRATS IN NORTHEASTERN STATE VOTE
ANTI-CAPITALIST LEFT PARTY LEADING IN BERLIN ELECTION
Right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) is set to win most votes in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania while the socialist Left Party has surged to first place in Berlin, according to initial projections.
Local outlet Deutsche Welle adds more color:
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the AfD is projected to take 37%, edging out the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) on 35.5%.
The center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, is projected to slump to 5.5%, barely above the threshold to enter the state parliament.
In Berlin, the CDU suffered another alarming setback, polling at just 20% against 24.8% for the far-left anti-capitalist 'Left Party'.
AfD is third on 15.7%, up 6.9 points.
Sunday’s showing could mark the first time the CDU is expelled from a state parliament since the founding of the federal republic in 1949.
“We can’t sugarcoat it, it was a disaster,” Merz told reporters in Berlin in a statement directly after exit polls were released, but offered no sign that he would step down.
He gathered senior CDU officials to party headquarters, where he sought to gauge their support for his leadership.
Lars Klingbeil, the SPD co-leader and vice chancellor, said the government needs to take stock and ask why voters voiced such uncertainty about policymaking in Berlin, where Merz’s coalition has struggled to sell its plan to overhaul the pension system and take on more debt to boost spending on defense and infrastructure.
“I take this very seriously,” Klingbeil told ARD.
“I also believe that we need to look at results like these with humility and ask ourselves: What can we do differently? What can we do better?”
The AfD party’s national co-leader, Alice Weidel, said Merz was the “wrong chancellor” and doing damage to his party.
“He’s dragging the CDU down with him,” Weidel told ARD.
“The CDU must ask itself — especially now — whether it wants to continue with this chancellor and with these left-wing policies. Because it won’t be able to carry on like this.”
AfD wrote on X:
"Chancellor Merz is not stepping down after the CDU disaster - no, instead he's telling the citizens that there won't be any 'back to the good old days'.
But, Mr. Merz. There will be. With the Alternative for Germany, which aligns its policies exclusively with the interests of its own citizens—and which will replace the CDU. Everywhere,"
"I am taking over this responsibility because I want to bring our country forward," Merz said.
Yet deindustrialization is really what's on the ballot, as Merz and the German political establishment have failed the nation.
Germany's political landscape is fragmenting in three directions at once: the CDU in the center, the AfD on the right, and the Left Party on the far left. No single coalition appears to be taking shape. This comes weeks after AfD's victory in Saxony-Anhalt. The results intensify pressure on Merz only 16 months into his chancellorship.
Andrzej Szczepaniak, a senior European economist and executive director at Nomura International in London, wrote in recent weeks that Europe has entered an 18-month election cycle that could accelerate the continent's shift toward populism, with high-profile elections already underway.
Szczepaniak emphasized the "seeds of political change" are already here, indicating that "politics in Europe is lurching towards more populism."
Read the full report here.
The political shift extends well beyond Europe. In Brazil, foreign capital is beginning to flow in as right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro leads socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, suggesting investors are positioning for a potential change in economic policy.
Tyler Durden Sun, 09/20/2026 - 19:00