India-US Clean Energy Agenda 2030

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Prime Minister of India and US President launched the India-US Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership at the Leaders Summit on Climate.

India-US Clean Energy Initiative

• It will help in mobilising investments, demonstrate clean technologies, and enable green collaborations.
• It will proceed along two main tracks i.e. the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership and the Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue, which will build on and subsume a range of existing processes.
• India and the United States aim to demonstrate how the world can align swift climate action with inclusive and resilient economic development.

Leaders’ Summit on Climate

• Leaders’ Summit on Climate is a two-day virtual conference hosted by the United States.
  • It will serve as an opportunity to release their country’s climate ambition and how they will take action to reduce emissions.
• Objectives: Get the world’s major economies to reduce emission.
  • Use nature-based solutions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
  • Protect lives and livelihoods by finding ways to adapt to climate change.
• The world’s top five highest emitters are China, The United States, India, Russia and Japan.

Major Highlights

• Both India and the United States have set ambitious 2030 targets for climate action and clean energy. 
• United States: 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. 
  • These announcements re-assert the US’s commitment in the run-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November in Glasgow.
  • The US will double its public climate financing development to developing countries and triple public financing for climate application in developing countries by 2024. 
• India: As part of its climate mitigation efforts, India has set a target of installing 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030. 
  • India is targeting a 2030 GDP emissions intensity ( i.e., volume of emissions per unit of GDP) that is 33%-35% below 2005 levels. 
  • It also seeks to have 40% of power generated from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. 
• China: China has pledged net zero emissions by 2060.
  • It has promoted its “green Belt and Road Initiative” and announced efforts to “strictly control coal-fired power generation projects” and phase down coal consumption.
• Japan: Japan aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and that it will cut its emissions by 46% over 2013 levels by 2030. 

Significance of Partnership 

• It will mobilize finance and speed clean energy deployment.
• It will demonstrate and scale innovative clean technologies needed to decarbonize sectors including industry, transportation, power, and buildings
• It will  build capacity to measure, manage, and adapt to the risks of climate-related impacts. 
• This can also help other developing countries who need affordable access to green finance and clean technologies.

Source:IE