AMN / WEB DESK
The First G-20 Energy Transition Working Group meeting was inaugurated in Bengaluru on Sunday, February 5, in the presence of Union Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy R K Singh and Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Prahlad Joshi.
The first G-20 Energy Transition Working Group meeting under India’s Presidency is held in Bengaluru from the 5th to the 7th of February. The delegates from G-20 countries and guest countries are part of the Working Group.
Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy Mr R.K. Singh has called upon the G20 member countries to join together in countering the challenges posed by global warming and climate change. Delivering the keynote address at the first Energy Transitions Working Group (ETWG) Meeting in Bengaluru today, the Minister said that India now stands committed to reduce emissions intensity of GDP by 45 percent by 2030 from 2005 level. He said, the country also aims to achieve close to 50 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.
Noting that India has been ranked amongst the top five performing countries in the Climate Change Performance Index, Shri R.K. Singh informed that the country’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions are far below the world average of 6.3 tonnes of carbon equivalent in 2020. Later, addressing media persons the Minister said that India will not compromise with the present availability of energy base and will explore all feasible sources to achieve energy security.
The Minister stressed on the need to expand the discourse of G20 Energy Transition Working Group. He said that unless we expand the discourse of the Working group, the concerns of the developing world cannot be addressed. Noting that six to seven hundred million people in the developing countries are still deprived of energy security, the minister said unless these people are given access to clean energy at affordable cost, they will not shift to green energy. He pointed at the need to create storage space for renewable energy.
In his special address, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal & Mines Prahlad Joshi underlined the need for international collaboration to achieve universal access to clean energy.
Prahlad Joshi recalled Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s announcement at the COP26 in Glasgow on Mission LiFE – Lifestyle For Environment – as a mass movement for “mindful and deliberate utilization, instead of mindless and destructive consumption” to protect and preserve the environment.
Briefing the media persons in Bengaluru today, at the end of the first day of meeting, the Union Power Secretary Alok Kumar said that the members today discussed five technological areas including high efficient fuel cells, electrolysis, small modular reactors, carbon capture and storage. The presentations were made on low-cost financing for technology transition and fuels of the future like bio-fuel and green hydrogen. The secretary said that India has already achieved the target of blending 10 percent ethanol in fuel. During the deliberations, India floated an alliance with Brazil and USA on bio-fuel.
Under the National Hydrogen Mission India proposed to set up a hub on green hydrogen in the country. A proposal was mooted to generate hydrogen from nuclear power. The Energy and Resources Institute, TERI based in New Delhi proposed to join the RD 20 global alliance and host a meeting in India next year to promote R&D activities on clean energy. The Power Secretary Alok Kumar informed that tomorrow, the working group will deliberate upon energy security, diversified energy chain and energy conservation in industries to reduce emission.