India- US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership

Content:

Provisions of the Partnership:

• India-US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership will represent one of the core venues for India-US collaboration and focus on driving urgent progress in this critical decade for climate action
• Both India and the United States have set ambitious 2030 targets for climate action and clean energy. 
• In its new nationally determined contribution, the United States has set an economy-wide target of reducing its net greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent below 2005 levels in 2030. As part of its climate mitigation efforts, 
• India has set a target of installing 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030. 
• Through the Partnership, India and the United States are firmly committed to working together in achieving their ambitious climate and clean energy targets and to strengthening bilateral collaboration across climate and clean energy.

The Partnership will proceed along two main tracks: 

• the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership and 
• the Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue

The Partnership will aim to:

•  mobilize finance and speed clean energy deployment; 
• demonstrate and scale innovative clean technologies needed to decarbonize sectors including industry, transportation, power, and buildings; and 
• build capacity to measure, manage, and adapt to the risks of climate-related impacts.

History of India US cooperation in Clean Energy:

• The United States and India have a long and successful strategic partnership in the energy sector. 
• The energy cooperation between the two countries, which is technical, economic, and bilateral, is strengthening year after year.
• In November 2009, the United States and India launched the Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE), which is working to accelerate inclusive, low carbon growth by supporting research and deployment of clean energy technologies. 
• During their first bilateral summit in September 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Barack Obama announced a commitment to strengthen and expand PACE through a series of priority initiatives. 
• When the two leaders met again in January 2015, they announced several new activities under PACE.
• Over the past year, India has revised its renewable energy target to 175 GW by 2022. The national solar target was scaled up by five times, reaching 100 GW by 2022, of which 40 GW is expected to come from solar rooftop. 
• The activities of the PACE initiative are aligned to support India’s ambitious clean energy targets.
• In order to track progress of the various levels of bilateral engagement on energy, the U.S.–India Energy Dialogue is convened annually, and was last hosted by the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. 
• In addition, the United States also engages India in the multilateral Clean Energy Ministerial forum.

Importance of the Agreement:

• It will help mobilise investments, demonstrate clean technologies, and enable green collaboration
• the US and India aim to demonstrate how the world can align swift climate action with economic development, taking into account national circumstances and sustainable development priorities
•  It could also “create templates of sustainable development” for other developing countries.

Hurdles:

• The economic uncertainty sparked by the Covid-19 will likely cost the global economy $1 trillion in 2020. This could hamper climate funding.
• According World Economic Forum, Global trade wars and political tension undermining climate change efforts