India's FGD Rollout Echoes Global Reform Amid Climate Change: How Will It Benefit You?

The government's latest decision to relax its mandate on flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) systems at coal-fired power plants is being viewed internationally not as environmental regression, but as a shift toward a nuanced and evidence-led regulation. With the FGD relaxation, the reduced electricity costs offer a direct benefit to customers.

The move aligns with global trends, where countries are tailoring emissions policies to local conditions and climate considerations. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) announced that FGD systems, which remove sulphur dioxide (SO₂) from flue gases, will now be mandatory only for plants near dense urban zones or in critical pollution areas.

In a gazette notification, the government has restricted the 2015 mandate of installing FGD systems that remove sulphur from a power plants' exhaust gases, only to plants located within 10 kilometres of cities with a population exceeding one million. Roughly 80% of India’s installed coal capacity, most of it running on low-sulphur domestic coal, will be exempt.

The decision follows independent assessments by three Indian research institutions — IIT Delhi, CSIR-NEERI and the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) — which concluded that ambient SO₂ levels are well within national standards even in regions without FGDs.

Measurements across multiple cities showed sulphur oxide levels ranging between 3 and 20 micrograms per cubic meter, below the national standard threshold of 80 micrograms per cubic meter. Studies had also questioned the environmental and economic efficacy of a universal FGD mandate in the Indian context.

Meanwhile, full-scale retrofitting was projected to increase CO₂ emissions by nearly 70 million tonnes over five years, largely due to added limestone mining and auxiliary energy use. Indian coal typically has a sulphur content of less than 0.5%, and due to high stack heights and favourable meteorological conditions, dispersion of SO2 is efficient.

The revision is also expected to reduce power generation costs by Rs 0.25 – Rs 0.30 per kilowatt hour, offering a direct benefit to consumers and easing pressure on India’s cash-strapped power distribution companies. Industry experts have described the move as “regulatory realism” that will preserve affordability without compromising core environmental goals.

India is not the only country undertaking this relaxation. The US, Europe and China — all of which pioneered FGD rollouts in earlier decades — have since shifted toward differentiated enforcement and performance-based compliance. China, after an aggressive FGD deployment from 2004 to 2012, now applies zonal standards and is placing more emphasis on PM2.5 reduction and system-level efficiency.

Critics have argued that any relaxation risks delaying clean air goals. However, governments insist that the framework targets pollution where it matters most and frees up billions in capital for higher-impact interventions such as electrostatic precipitators, real-time monitoring and renewable grid upgrades.