The Senate was briefed that from next year, there will be no furnace oil import, as already renewable energy made up for 40 percent of total power generation. Mushahid Ullah Khan Minister for Climate Change Senator said this during the discussion in the House on a deferred motion moved by Senator Dr. Jehanzeb Jamaldini of the BNP-Mengal.

The minister played down the interests raised by Senator Jamaldini and some other lawmakers that the use of coal in power plants would be an immense risk to environment and life. He mentioned that the best possible supercritical technology was being used at the coal-power plants to deal with pollution.

He futher added that coal-based power generation in the US was over thirty percent in China sixty percent and in India forty percent whereas it was just 0.8 percent in Pakistan. He insisted that there was a lot of responsibility on the provinces and other ministries to do the demanding on coal-power plant-related matters.

Ahsan Iqbal Interior Minister said that no project was being executed without first having environmental impact study, stressing coal would be used under safe technology.

He further explained the use of coal and said that coal deposits in Pakistan were enough for over 400 years. He made it clear that no coal power plant under CPEC was being set up, which would be a threat to the environment. Senators feared that coal-power plants would pose a threat to the environment as already China was shifting its plants to other countries. They also said that considerable quantity of water would be needed to cooling the towers. They called for focusing on wind and other options for power generation.