"Pakistan races to tap virgin coal fields to meet energy crunch", 27 Feb 2017

[An] open coal pit…has been dug in the Thar Desert in Pakistan's southern Sindh province [and] below [it] lies one of the world's largest coal reserves, untapped until now. For years Pakistan used its Thar coal reserves as a bargaining chip in global climate negotiations. Since it was not mining the coal, it argued, it should receive easier access to international climate finance and to clean technology...But as part of its attempt to end the country's energy crisis which has caused frequent power cuts for years, the government is encouraging mining companies to the area…[and] the coal mine is set to become Pakistan's biggest industrial site…They are also now building a 660 megawatt coal power plant nearby…Under the Paris climate agreement, countries are meant to be shifting to clean, sustainable energy as part of global attempts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and prevent the worst impacts of climate change...For the past three months villagers near the mine have been protesting SECMC's mining plans, saying the project will pollute their water and threaten their ancestral lands…The villagers have filed a case in the Sindh High Court and applied for a stay order to block the reservoir's construction...