Coal can be a very profitable enterprise and stimulate investment. According to the Investment Commission of India website (2006), the Indian coal sector has an overall investment potential of US$ 30-40 billion. It is a goal that over the next 10 years to double its annual coal production while modernizing existing mines and developing related infrastructure (Investment Commission of India, 2006). Sustainable development of coal opens opportunities for exploring and developing more new coal mines without interference from regulators. The economy will benefit from manufacturing and selling state-of-the-art mining equipment and technology; and creating related infrastructure for off-take of mined coal (Investment Commission of India, 2006), It is important to stimulate the economy and improve poverty by providing good wage jobs through energy such as coal. Experts are trying to harness the potential of coal for its benefits but not over-use coal to cause depletion. As the Cornucopian theory, formulated by Julian L. Simon, provides that technology will meet the efforts of sustainability for this coal project (Rogers, 2008). Coal is not as clean as solar or wind, but more modern coal plants advanced past the conventional coal business. Sudarkodi (2009) points out that focusing on the consumption of energy is essential. There is no doubt that humans need energy to produce food, clean water and keep warm; yet, consumption growth is depleting renewable and mineral resources, and causing irreversible damage to the environment (pg 4). As Sudarkodi (2009) notes¸ price incentives, awareness raising, and voluntary agreements with industry are not enough to achieve the scale or pace of consumption change needed to move towards a sustainable society. Thus, it is necessary to mandate limits of production per capita to ensure not over using our resources in an unsustainable manner. Another challenge with coal is to meet the growing global energy demand. It is important to determine the impact of human activities via the social well being, the environment and the economic development. The coal industry has tried to implement these principles of sustainable development in their organizations. However, there are many people who do not have electricity because of the high cost of electricity produced by other sources. Sustainable coal is needed because the use of coal for electricity production can lead to production of adequate and affordable energy. Coal can contribute to all the pillars of sustainable development (Copley, 2004). The need for a sustainable development of coal arises from its negative impact on the environment. Its economic role is felt in both the producing and consuming countries. The use of coal as a source of energy has had as positive impact on the economic growth. It has also contributed to the social pillar of sustainable development by improving the living standards of the society. However, its performance on the environment remains negative. Therefore, there is need to reduce the impact that coal has on the environment especially during its production and its use. This calls for research and development in the coal industry to increase its energy efficiency and hence reduce air emissions. The greatest challenge of coal is to improve its environmental performance to meet all the objectives of sustainable development. This can be achieved through deployment of new clean coal technologies on its mining process and use of technologies that aim at lowering the emissions (Copley, 2004).
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