India and the US renewed their commitment to work towards a just, orderly and sustainable energy transition during the ministerial meeting of the US-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) on Tuesday.
Petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri and US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm emphasized on the need for joint action and collaboration to navigate the global energy transition.
The partnership appreciated setting up of the public-private energy storage task force, efforts to help large-scale integration of renewable energy and collaboration for deployment of hydrogen technologies needed for the clean energy transition, the oil ministry said in a statement.
“The sides noted the growing importance of bilateral energy cooperation between the countries while underscoring the critical importance of bilateral clean energy engagement and the achievements of the SCEP in strengthening energy security, creating opportunities for clean energy innovation, addressing climate change and creating employment generation opportunities,” it said.
The two countries recognised the importance of producing green/ clean hydrogen as a critical energy source for global decarbonisation and agreed to support each other’s national hydrogen missions.
“The sides emphasized the importance of promoting energy access, affordability and energy justice in each country… The sides agreed to work toward development of net zero villages in India to support the clean energy transition,” the joint statement said.
The ministers also welcomed the priority of reducing carbon emissions in the transportation sector through zero emissions vehicles and continued collaboration on securing funding and enabling affordable and accessible debt and equity financing for the e-mobility sector.
They discussed the role that the Global Biofuels Alliance will play in strengthening markets, facilitating global biofuels trade, development of concrete policy lesson-sharing and provision of technical support for national biofuels programs worldwide.
Both sides launched the South Asia Group for Energy (SAGE) to deepen the engagement between Indian agencies and US national laboratories to support research, analysis and capacity building activities.