India, Sept. 28 -- India's electricity demand nearly quadrupled between 2000 and 2020, met largely by coal, which supplied about 76% of power and drove a sharp rise in SO2 emissions, sulphate aerosols and urban PM2.5.

A Nature Cities study links this coal-heavy growth to higher aerosol loading and a 30% jump in PM2.5-related urban deaths, even as clean cooking cut household pollution.

India's electricity demand nearly quadrupled between 2000 and 2020 as its GDP per capita more than tripled, but the expansion was met predominantly with coal, contributing to a sharp rise in urban air pollution and particulate matter-related deaths, according to a new study.

Published in Nature Cities, the study by Basudev Swain of the University of Oxfor...