29 October 2022, NIICE Commentary 8367
Dr. Kaustav Padmapati
In the recently held US – India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership Ministerial dialogue at Washington DC on 7th October 2022, co-chaired by Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri and the United States Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, discussed and reviewed the progress in the various areas of US-India energy and climate partnership. While welcoming the increased clean energy collaboration between diverse stakeholders of both countries, both the ministers stressed the critical importance of bilateral clean energy cooperation to tightened energy security and to facilitate secure and clean energy transition. In the joint statement issued, both the ministers highlighted that climate and clean energy collaboration should promote energy access, affordability, energy justice, while supporting sustainable economic growth and just energy transitions.
India’s Performance
However, India’s worst performance in the 2022 Environment Performance Index (EPI), which came out recently, raises serious questions on country’s various policies on climate change. The comprehensive list is prepared by two American Universities – Yale Center for Environmental Law and Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science information Network (CIESIN), which uses three broad categories of ecosystem vitality, health and climate policy while ranking the environmental performance of a country. Although EPI is regarded as more authentic than other similar reports on environment performance as it uses outcome-oriented indicators, the report is slammed by Indian Government claiming it to be non-authentic. According to India’s Ministry of Environment, EPI which is a biennial index, used unscientific methods. New Delhi’s sharp reaction to the report and its lethargic attitude towards the issue of climate change, raises worry about possible partnership with the United States in areas of climate change and clean energy.
Surprisingly, both India and the US are counted among the top 5 greenhouse emitting countries of the world. They contribute almost 20 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Both Washington and New Delhi are committed to achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, which was adopted on 12th December 2015 in Paris by 197 countries. The treaty, legally binding on all 197 countries, pledged to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
Both Washington and New Delhi have taken significant initiatives together to advance their strategic partnership in the domain of climate policy and action. Some of the important initiatives are – an MoU was signed between both the countries in 2014 where American EXIM Bank and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) decided to provide USD 1 billion for the transition in India’s low-carbon economy. To advance capacity for climate adaptation planning, both the countries have agreed to India-US Climate Fellowship Program. The Fellowship aimed to work to address climate change related issues and to build long-term capacity for both US-India to be on the safe side.
US – India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership
In 21st century, the partnership between the US and India is multidimensional. Both the countries initiated “the US- India Energy Dialogue” in 2005 paving the way for trade and investment in the energy sector. Under this Dialogue, six groups were working in power and energy efficiency, new technology and renewable energy, sustainable development, oil and gas, coal and civil nuclear cooperation. The Dialogue ushered a new era of energy partnership through the investment Indian companies like Reliance, Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), Essar in US natural gas market.
With an aim of achieving more serious energy cooperation, the erstwhile Energy Dialogue was replaced by establishing a Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP) in 2018 at a meeting held between the delegates from both India and the United States. Four technical pillars are established under the SEP: 1) Oil and Gas, 2) Power and Energy Efficiency 3) Renewable Energy and Sustainable Growth, and 4) Coal.
India-US Climate and Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership
On 22nd April 2021, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden launched a high-level “India-US Climate and Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership,” with two main tracks—the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) and the Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue. The renewed US-India SCEP builds upon a longstanding bilateral energy dialogue focused on energy security and innovation. With new efforts, it will focus on advance energy security and innovation with greater emphasis on electrification and decarbonization of processes and end uses; scaling up emerging clean energy technologies; finding solutions for hard-to-decarbonize sectors; and using technical solutions. The agenda 2030 partnership continues to advance security, innovation and energy, scaling up emerging clean energy technologies and deploying technical solutions through five pillars. The pillars are the responsible oil and gas pillar, sustainable growth pillar, emerging fuels and technologies, power and energy efficiency pillar and renewable energy pillar.
According to the official statements, the partnership represents one of the core values for India- US collaboration and both the countries’ strong commitment to achieve the goals of Paris Agreement. Both the governments mentioned that the main objective of this agenda is to use clean technologies enable green collaborations and mobilize the investments in India so that it inspires the sustainable development agendas of other developing countries. Through this partnership, India and the US are firmly committed to working together in achieving their ambitious climate and clean energy targets and to strengthening bilateral ties. They are aiming to demonstrate the aligning of swift climate action across the world. It could be done with resilient economic development while taking into consideration the national circumstances and sustainable development significantly. The partnership also works to reduce emissions from thermal coal plants, including through carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies. Under this partnership, role of the private sector is also recognised to facilitate rapid technology deployment and make economic opportunities for both countries
As India transitions to gas-based fuels, it is now the fifth largest market for US LNG. One significant development under this partnership is the creation of US-India Low Emissions Gas Task Force, which facilitates India’s vision to reduce its consumption of high polluting fuels by increasing the use of natural gas for transportation, industrial, and residential purposes by supporting short-term and long-term clean energy transition and climate action goals. In addition, the Task Force focuses on addressing India’s natural gas policy, technology, and regulatory barriers by promoting efficient and market-driven solutions. Through the India-US Low Emissions Gas Task Force, industries of both countries have forged commercial partnerships. India and the US are also exploring collaboration in advanced high-efficiency coal technologies with low-to-zero emissions through carbon capture, utilization and storage. Research and development cooperation for solar cell manufacturing and storage is in progress.
The current partnership is also aimed 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. US financial institutions have also announced credit guarantees for India’s small and medium enterprise (SME) sector to deploy rooftop solar capacity. The two countries have also launched the India-US Hydrogen Task Force to look at issues ranging from sustainable production of hydrogen to its safe deployment. Two more areas that offers further cooperation include: use of artificial intelligence models in integrating renewable energy and stabilizing power grid.
What will be the Implications for this New Ppartnership for India?
The current bilateral alliance focuses on finance and technology transfer to help decarbonise India’s key greenhouse gas emitting sectors. Under the new partnership, India is also uniquely positioned to demand more action from the US, which is among the top producers of energy in the world. Achieving India’s renewable energy transition goals by 2030 would require investment of USD 2.5 trillion. India’s primary energy demand by 2030 will double, making it the third largest consumer of energy in the world, after China and the US. In this background, both New Delhi and Washington must create a roadmap for future cooperation in the field of energy. Definitely, this partnership could write a new chapter on clean energy cooperation between India and the US.
Although we could witness positive developments in the areas of climate action, both the US and India face a range of challenges that have restricted the full ambitions of US – India climate partnership and interrupted the growth of green economies at home. Both the countries are still counted among the top five global carbon emitters despite hosting climate strategies over the years. As India is heading towards achieving the third USD 10 trillion economy in the next decade, there is a huge possibility for potential investments from the US to help ensure India maintains its low per capita emissions even as its economy grows.
With a hope of reclaiming the global leadership on climate agenda, US President Joe Biden declared Climate action as one of the key foreign policy goals of the US. He even called for a drastic action on climate change through a clean energy revolution. Despite having mixed results, President Biden campaign displayed an early recognition of the climate crisis that the US and the rest of the world faces. In fact, due to the devastating impacts of nature in recent years in the US, a wide section of the American population became aware about the seriousness of the issue. Last year, the United States experienced extreme high and low temperatures and droughts, which enhanced national electricity demands, putting pressure on country’s energy setup. The US still holds the second position globally as emitter of carbon dioxide, so it faces a great challenge in reducing emissions.
India, the fifth most vulnerable country, too has been witnessing extreme weather conditions like flash floods in Assam and Uttarakhand, extreme hit in North India, increasing cyclones on the western coast etc. More than 75 percent of India’s districts, home to 638 million people -nearly half the population – have been identified as hot spots for extreme climate events. The Indian Meteorological Department has recorded that in the year 2018-19 about 2400 citizens have lost their lives to extreme weather conditions like floods, cyclones etc. While a rise of 0.6 degrees (in Celsius) have been recorded annually for the same time frame. Which means, at the end of this century, the average temperature in India would have risen to 29.1 degrees Celsius from the current average of 25.1 degrees.
Despite these rapid climate changes, India is among those countries whose historical responsibility for climate change is marginal compared to that of developed countries like the US. According to the World Resources Institute, India actually accounted for 2.6 percent of the world’s cumulative carbon emissions between 1850 and 2010 whereas the US accounted for 28 percent over the same period. New Delhi’s air quality was stooping to dangerously low levels with barely any need for researches or scientific tests as the detrimental effects could be felt first hand by the footfall of the national capital who suffocated month after month by thick smog and ‘ash like’ particles floating freely in the air compelling the government to even shut schools as a result of presence of PM2.5 and PM10 particles, carbon-dioxide, carbon mono-oxide, nitrogen oxides, Sulphur di-oxide, etc.
The Way Forward
As President Biden has already shown his serious commitment towards climate action, similar attention is also required from the Modi government. India’s poor performance at EPI is definitely an eye opener. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India is catering to the huge demand through bold green initiatives, while aiming deeper reforms in the energy sector and climate action. Although performing a considerably influential role in the fight against Climate Change, New Delhi has yet to devise a strategy to earn significant economic benefits while fully embracing a socially fair and equitably clean energy transition. A beneficial partnership with the US will drastically bring down its carbon print while mobilizing its financial resources, thereby proving that economic development, urbanisation and industrialization can develop together with an environment friendly governance structure.
Thus, it is crucial that India and the US must double down on efforts to bring structural change, hurdle institutional barriers, and overcome the challenges to achieve green growth and development. In addition, both the countries must adjust their individual goals to control climate change and pursue a clean energy agenda, giving them an opportunity to strengthen their bilateral ties for a better future for all. By using the new partnership, both the countries could set an example for the rest of the world.
Dr. Kaustav Padmapati is an Assistant Professor at University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, India.
