Struggling to reach 700 mn tonne production, Coal India surpasses FY'23 green cover target

Coal India, the world's largest miner, which is scrambling to meet an optimistic coal production target of 700 million tonnes, has said it exceeded the annual target of green coverage by mid-November.
    
Coal India’s plantation of 1,526 hectares as of November 15 has exceeded the FY'23 annual target of 1,510 hectares achieving 101 per cent target satisfaction, it said.
    
"The increased plantation helped in creating 76,544 tonnes of carbon sink potential per year. Driven up by the eco concerns and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, CIL in recent years has stepped up the efforts on greening its mining areas," the miner said.
    
The plantation area of Coal India grew by 77 per cent so far over 862 hectares of FY'21. In the last five years till March this year, 4,392 hectares of greening inside the mine lease area has created a carbon sink potential of 2.2 lakh tonne per year, the PSU said. 
    
"Coal India supports India's commitment of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions and aims to become a net-zero company by FY 2027," company chairman Pramod Agrawal said.
    
The company has planted over 30.42 lakh saplings during FY'22 expanding the green cover in mining areas to 1,468.5 hectares.
    
In FY’23, Coal India has achieved 400 million tonnes of production till November 24 with a strong 17 per cent jump over the same period last year. 
    
As of March 2022, CIL manages 84 mining sites throughout eight provinces, with 318 mines - 141 underground, 158 opencast and 19 mixed mines – besides 13 operational coal washeries.