"Any country, be it India, be it Germany, be it the US, if they double down on any kind of fossil fuel it will eat up the carbon budget. That's a global problem," said Sandeep Pai, senior research lead for the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Energy Program.

While Pai said that India's decision might only be a temporary "reaction to the crisis," if in one or two years' time countries were continuing to rely on coal this would significantly affect the war on global warming.

"If these actions happen, it will eat up the carbon budget which is already shrinking in India and the target of 1.5 or 2 degrees will become increasingly hard," Pai said, referring to the Paris Climate Agreement's goal of keeping the rise in global average temperature between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.

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If the rise in temperature exceeds that range, even temporarily, scientists suggest some of the resulting changes to the planet could be irreversible.

As Pai put it: "India's scale and size and demand means that if it really doubles down on coal, then we'll have a really serious problem from a climate point of view."

Iqbal Athas contributed reporting.

"Any country, be it India, be it Germany, be it the US, if they double down on any kind of fossil fuel it will eat up the carbon budget. That's a global problem," said Sandeep Pai, senior research lead for the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Energy Program.

While Pai said that India's decision might only be a temporary "reaction to the crisis," if in one or two years' time countries were continuing to rely on coal this would significantly affect the war on global warming.

"If these actions happen, it will eat up the carbon budget which is already shrinking in India and the target of 1.5 or 2 degrees will become increasingly hard," Pai said, referring to the Paris Climate Agreement's goal of keeping the rise in global average temperature between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.

*

If the rise in temperature exceeds that range, even temporarily, scientists suggest some of the resulting changes to the planet could be irreversible.

As Pai put it: "India's scale and size and demand means that if it really doubles down on coal, then we'll have a really serious problem from a climate point of view."

Iqbal Athas contributed reporting.