Coal emissions threaten India's food security

Emissions from coal combustion are casting a shadow over India’s agricultural sector, and threatening the nation’s role as a major hub for global food security.

As the world’s second-most populous country, India relies heavily on rice and wheat production to sustain its population and export markets. However, pollutants from coal-fired power stations are having a negative impact on crop yields.

According to a recent study, coal emissions may be responsible for a significant decrease (of 10% or more) in the annual yield of these two staple grains. This means that the nutritional security of a quarter of the world’s undernourished population could be threatened.

The trade-offs of coal emissions

The goal of the study was not merely to highlight a problem, but to navigate the complexities of India’s energy demands in connection with food security.

Study lead author Kirat Singh, a Ph.D. student in environment and resources in the Doerr School of Sustainability, described the motivation for this study.

“We wanted to understand the impact of India’s coal electricity emissions on its agriculture because there might be real trade-offs between meeting growing electricity demand with coal generation and maintaining food security,” said Singh.

Reducing coal emissions for better harvests

Considerable effort has been devoted in the past to quantify the health-related repercussions of burning coal for electricity.

However, prior to this study, the specific implications for crop production – especially in relation to India’s dependence on coal-fired power stations for more than 70% of its electricity – were left unexplored.

“Crop productivity is incredibly important to India’s food security and economic prospects,” noted study senior author David Lobell.

“We’ve known that improved air quality could help agriculture, but this study is the first to drill down to a specific sector and measure the potential benefits of reducing emissions.”

Deeper insight into crop damage

The study was focused on nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) emissions from coal-powered stations, and evaluated their impact on rice and wheat production.

By compiling data from electricity generation at 144 power stations across India, wind direction records, and satellite-measured nitrogen dioxide levels over croplands, the researchers provided a detailed picture of the situation.

According to their findings, eliminating pollution from burning coal during vital growing seasons could potentially increase the value of the rice output by approximately $420 million and the wheat output by $400 million annually.

“Any policy focused on reducing emissions from coal power plants in India will be ignoring a crucial part of the problem if it does not consider the damages from air pollution to agriculture,” said Inês Azevedo, a co-author of the study.

Unseen benefits of cutting coal emissions

The findings indicate that reducing coal emissions may yield more substantial and widely distributed benefits than previously recognized.

While past studies have primarily focused on the health hazards of air pollution, this study highlights the importance of considering agricultural damage as well.

The analysis showed that, while the monetary value of lost crop output is generally lower than the mortality damage caused by coal emissions, the intensity of crop damage per unit of electricity generated can be even higher.

At 58 of the 144 power stations studied, rice yield losses per gigawatt-hour exceeded mortality damages, and at 35 stations, wheat damage followed the same pattern.

This suggests that, in many regions, targeted reductions in coal emissions could provide more immediate relief to agricultural productivity than previously assumed.

“It’s rare to find a single thing – in this case, reducing coal emissions – that would help agriculture so quickly and so much,” said Lobell.

Food production and public health

Moreover, the findings indicate little overlap between the power stations causing the most severe crop losses and those linked to the highest mortality rates.

This means that well-placed policy interventions could optimize benefits, and deliver significant increases in food production along with improvements in public health and climate change mitigation.

By considering crop losses alongside health impacts when regulating coal electricity emissions, policymakers could unlock a powerful opportunity for economic and environmental gains.

“Well-targeted policies to cut emissions could deliver thousands of dollars of increased crop output for each clean gigawatt-hour, in addition to all the climate and human health benefits,” said Singh.

Ultimately, the study reinforces the need for a more integrated approach to energy and environmental policy – one that fully accounts for the multifaceted benefits of reducing coal pollution.

The full study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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