From an article titled 'The New Face of King Coal'

"The environmental consequences of China and India’s coal-fired growth are potentially disastrous. Coal burning in China and India is generally inefficient and polluting – emissions control is often lacking (or not enforced) and the quality of domestic coal is often poor. This means that larger quantities of coal must be burnt, meaning greater emissions of CO2 per unit of power output. International Energy Agency forecasts suggest that, by 2030, coal-fired power in these two countries will add some 3,000 million extra tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere every year – equivalent to around 20 times the UK’s current total CO2 emissions from power generation. Over this same period, emissions from China alone are forecast to grow by as much as those of the entire industrialised world, by which time China will have long passed the US as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

However, while coal is one of the most carbon-intensive fuels for power generation, it remains a plentiful and cheap resource for emerging economies. China and India have relatively modest natural gas reserves, and these are mostly located far from where power is needed. Developing gas infrastructure is costly and involves long lead times. In China and India, where brown- and blackouts are common, the priority is to build new capacity using proven technology as quickly as possible. "