India's CCUS imbued coal gasification pathway: from resource optimisation to energy sovereignty

India stares at a unique contradiction: abundant domestic coal reserves but rendered elusive due to their composition. Against this backdrop, coal gasification emerges as a potential panacea and offers a resolution. The idea is straightforward, transform domestic coal into energy commodities via gasification whilst enabling carbon capture at commercially attractive scale. What once existed as a conceptual analysis has evolved into concrete policy and industrial scale deployment. Yet a critical asymmetry persists. While coal gasification benefits from solidified incentives and dedicated support, the corresponding carbon management policy remains inchoate. The next phase therefore hinges on offsetting this asymmetry. Should India establish the necessary CCUS framework, it could pioneer a fully integrated gasification and carbon strategy at national scale, concurrently bolstering energy sovereignty and decarbonisation objectives.