In news– Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas co-chaired a virtual Ministerial meeting with the U.S. Secretary of Energy to launch the revamped U.S.-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) recently.
About the U.S.-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP)-
- The SCEP is launched in accordance with U.S.-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden at the Leaders Summit on Climate held in April this year.
- India elevated the India-US energy dialogue to a strategic energy partnership in February 2018 and four technical pillars for it were established in January 2019.
- The SCEP organizes inter-governmental engagement across five pillars of cooperation:
- Power and Energy Efficiency.
- Responsible Oil and Gas.
- Renewable Energy.
- Sustainable Growth and
- Emerging Fuels.
- During the meeting, the two sides announced the addition of a fifth Pillar on Emerging Fuels, which signals joint resolve to promote clean energy fuels.
- A new India-US Task Force on Biofuels was also announced to build on the scope of work on cooperation in the biofuels sector.
- The US Secretary lauded India’s renewable energy target of 450 GW by 2030, and offered to closely collaborate in the realization of this target by India.
- Both sides will strengthen the electric grid in India to support large-scale integration of renewables, including through smart grids, energy storage, flexible resources etc.
- The two sides also announced rechristening of the Gas Task Force to India-US Low Emissions Gas Task Force, which would continue to forge collaboration between U.S. and Indian companies on innovative projects to support India’s vision of a gas-based economy.
- The two sides also agreed to continue to develop better understandings on methane abatement under this Task Force.
- Both sides have initiated institutionalization of India Energy Modeling Forum with the constitution of Six Task Forces for carrying out research and modeling in different areas.
- Joint Committees have been set up to deliberate on Energy Data Management, Low Carbon Technologies and Just Transition in the Coal Sector.
- Building on the success of the first phase, the two sides agreed to expand the scope of the work to include smart grid and grid storage as part of the second phase of the Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE)-R initiative anchored on the Indian side by the Department of Science & Technology.
- The meeting also reviewed the progress on the India-US Civil Nuclear Energy cooperation.
U.S.-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership-
- The 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.
- The Partnership aims 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.
Source: PIB
