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Topic: General Studies 2:
- Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests.
In News: Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India and the US are launching a clean energy Agenda 2030 partnership to mobilise investments and enable green collaborations.
Addressing the virtual summit on climate, hosted by US President Joe Biden and attended by 40 global leaders, PM Modi pitched for concrete action at a high speed and on a large scale globally to combat climate change. He asserted that India has taken several bold steps on clean energy, energy efficiency and bio-diversity despite its development challenges, adding that the country’s carbon footprint is 60% lower than the global average.
The Prime Minister said as a climate-responsible developing country, India welcomes partners to create templates of sustainable development in India, and these can help other developing countries as well who need affordable access to green finance and clean technologies.
Launch of the India-US Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership – A Green Partnership
The Partnership will proceed along two main tracks: the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership and the Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue, which will build on and subsume a range of existing processes.
The partnership will aim to mobilise finance and speed clean energy deployment; demonstrate and scale innovative clean technologies needed to decarbonise sectors including industry, transportation, power and buildings; and build capacity to measure, manage and adapt to the risks of climate-related impacts
Through this collaboration, India and the United States aim to demonstrate how the world can align swift climate action with inclusive and resilient economic development, taking into account national circumstances and sustainable development priorities. Led by Prime Minister Modi and President Biden, 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 countries have also agreed to prioritise greater collaboration in the clean energy sector, such as biofuels, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), hydrogen production and carbon sequestration, through technology exchange, joint research and development (R&D) through Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Research (PACE-R) as part of the strategic partnership.
The Way Forward
Both the US and India have taken important strides together to advance their strategic partnership in the domain of climate action and policy. However, existing efforts continue to rely mainly on an incremental approach to tackling climate change. Such measures are welcome but insufficient. As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are reminded of the human and economic costs associated with weak international cooperation, delayed action, and the lack of investments in important infrastructure and capabilities. Climate-induced disasters may make the current pandemic look meek, and the world could ignore this risk at its own peril. Thus, it is vital for India and the US to double down on efforts to drive structural change, hurdle institutional barriers, and overcome the inertia inhibiting green growth and development.
Must Read: Under Biden, the future of US-India ties
Connecting the Dots:
- India-US Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership
- Sustainable lifestyles and a guiding philosophy of ‘back to basics’ must be an important pillar of our economic strategy for the post-Covid era. Discuss.