Ambitious climate targets can make the phaseout of India's coal-fired power plants cost-beneficial

Given the urgency of climate change and the need for an energy transition, global coal power generation is rapidly declining. However, coal transition strategies optimized for cost-benefit and aligned with climate targets remain underexplored. Here, we develop a Plant-level Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Dynamic Optimization Model to conduct a cost-benefit optimization analysis for India's coal-fired power plants, through which the study proposes differentiated phaseout roadmaps aligned with the 1.5 °C and 2 °C climate targets. Our findings suggest that ambitious climate targets can yield more significant economic benefits, and more aggressive coal power retirement strategies are economically feasible. For example, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh could achieve the total net benefits of 171 and 110 billion US dollars in the 1.5 °C and 2 °C scenarios. Furthermore, incorporating social benefits into the evaluation will enhance the feasibility of the coal phaseout and reinforce India's decarbonization commitments.