INDIA is now the world’s second-largest importer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a move that the government is spinning as a push towards green energy alternatives to traditional cooking fuel, such as firewood and cow dung.

LPG is frequently touted as a green fossil fuel because it releases less carbon dioxide than coal or oil. Environmentalists, however, dispute its green credientials. 

Chief scientist for Greenpeace UK Dr Doug Parr told the Star: “Gas is a fossil fuel, burning it releases CO2 into the atmosphere, and extracting it in the first place normally entails large accidental methane releases, both of which accelerate climate change and all the environmental disasters that will bring.

“Claiming that LPG is environmentally friendly because it is lower in carbon than coal is like advising an alcoholic to switch from meths to absinthe. A slower death is not the solution we’re looking for.”

A disturbing study earlier this week reported that a third of the Himalayan glaciers can no longer be saved from the effects of global climate change even if current efforts to reduce carbon emissions succeed.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development report expects the ancient ice to melt by the end of the century, threatening water sources for 1.9 billion people.  

The melting of the glaciers, which feed the Indus, Ganges, Yangtze, Irrawaddy and Mekong river systems, is expected to increase flooding. 

Lead research Philippus Wester said: “Global warming is on track to transform the frigid, glacier-covered mountain peaks of the Hindu Kush Himalayas cutting across eight countries to bare rocks in a little less than a century.

“All the countries affected need to prioritise tackling this upcoming problem before it reaches crisis proportions.”