India is among one of the few countries globally which has kept to its Paris Climate Change (COP21) commitments along with an exponential increase in renewable energy capacity. Considering the pace of development in the energy sector, India is determined to not only achieve, but to exceed its NDC commitments well within the committed time frame. This was stated by Union Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy, Shri RK Singh in his keynote address at the  webinar on “A Multilateral Approach to Building a Global Hydrogen Economy” was organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) here today.

Addressing the gathering virtually Shri Singh said that India is world leader in Energy Transition. India’s NDC is to increase the share of non-fossil fuels to 40% of the total electricity generation capacityby 2030  but at the current rate we might be able to achieve almost 50  percent from non fossil fuel by 2030.

Shri Singh further  said that India is a world leader in Energy Transition and intends to continue leading the path. He added that we achieved  milestone of 100 GW of installed Renewable Energy Capacity which is a matter of pride for us. This  not only marks an important milestone in India’s journey towards its target of 450 GW by 2030, but also builds upon the confidence to achieve more and be among the leading countries embarking on a path towards energy transition globally.

Shri  Singh  apprised that India has been declared as the most attractive destination for investment in Renewable Energy by Bloomberg.

The Minister informed that government is proposing to come out with mandates for green hydrogen purchase obligations in refining and fertilizers starting with 10 percent which will be increased later  to 20-25 percent. With time by adding more and more volume the price will reduce and the mandate will no longer be required. He added that we are also proposing tocome up with Viability Gap Funding( VGF) for green hydrogen in heavy mobility and are also eyeing other sectors such as steel .

Shri BhagwantKhuba , Minister of State for Ministry of New and Renewable Energy , Shri InduShekharChaturvedi, Secretary MNRE were also present at the event. The webinar focussed on the multilateral effort required to build a global hydrogen economy via conducive international policies, technology co-development, pooled finances for demonstrations, and investments to create markets and scale up deployment.

The webinar featured a “Country Conversation” amongst H. E. Juan Angulo, Ambassador of Chile to India, concurrent to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal; H. E. Martin Strandgaard, Deputy Head of Mission, Ambassador, The Royal Danish Embassy; Dr Steffen N. Koch, Minister and Head of Department for Economics & Global Affairs, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany; Natalie Toms, Economic, Climate and Development Counsellor, British High Commission, moderated by Dr.Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, CEEW.

Another session on “Corporate Conversation” saw DavideCirelli, Country Manager and CEO, Snam India; Frank Wouters, Senior Vice-President - Energy Transition, Reliance Industries Ltd; and AlkaUpadhyay, AVP and Lead, Environment and Sustainability, Tata Sustainability Group shared their key insights with the audience.

India is a Global Champion for Energy Transition for the UN High-Level Dialogue on Energy, which aims to promote the implementation of the energy-related goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In this context, India invited four other Global Champions for Energy Transition - Chile, Denmark, Germany and the UK – to discuss industrial energy transition without compromising developmental goals, and the role of hydrogen in this transition. The participating corporates also shared their views and suggestions.

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MV/IG