Goa, July 23, 2023

 

The Energy Transitions Ministerial Meeting (ETMM) under India’s G20 Presidency concluded in Goa today.  The G20 Energy Ministers, met under India’s G20 Presidency, on 22 July 2023, with the aim to share and collaborate in accelerating clean, sustainable, just, affordable, and inclusive energy transitions, as a means of enabling secure, sustainable, equitable, shared and inclusive growth. Energy Ministers of most G20 member countries except those from France, Russia, and Mexico attended the meeting physically. Energy ministers of France, Russia, and Mexico attended the conference virtually. The meeting also had the participation of energy ministers of guest countries - Bangladesh, Denmark, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Oman, Singapore and Spain; and representatives of international organizations namely ADB, CEM, ERIA, IEA, IEF, IRENA, ISA, OPEC, SE4ALL, UNEP, UNIDO, World Bank, World Economic Forum and GECF.

Following the conclusion of the Ministerial meeting, the Meeting Chair and Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy, Government of India, Shri R. K. Singh, addressed a press conference to brief the media about the outcomes of the Energy Working Group and the Energy Ministers’ Meeting.

The Minister said, “We had a great conference. It was one of the more successful conferences in G20. We had a complete agreement on 22 out of 29 paragraphs, and seven paragraphs constitute the Chair summary. All the Ministers felt this was a very successful conference and the outcomes were very satisfactory.”

Shri R K Singh informed that the G20 Energy Ministers have adopted an ambitious and forward-looking Outcome Document and Chair's Summary of the meeting, as well as High-Level Voluntary Principles on Hydrogen. The Outcome Document, Chair Summary and High Level Voluntary Principles on Hydrogen can be found here. Shri Singh said that the pace of energy transitions needs to be increased. "We agreed that the pace of energy transitions needs to be increased. 85% of all capacity additions in the past year has been in renewables. We are also of the view that any energy transition or climate change has to happen taking into account the national circumstances of each country. We emphasized the need for sharing of technology, and for low-cost financing especially for developing countries so that no one is left behind. We felt that access to energy is a major aspect to be looked at by the world community, given that 730 million people in the world do not have energy access and this needs to be urgently addressed”, he said.

The Minister said that on hydrogen, there was an agreement on five principles and that free and open trade will be encouraged so that zero and low-carbon hydrogen is used more, enabling transition in hard-to-abate sectors.

The Minister informed that the Clean Energy Ministerial and Mission Innovation Meeting discussed technologies which needed to be accelerated, such as technologies for storage. “We felt that for going to Net Zero, storage is essential. Emphasis has been laid on increasing the volume of electrolyser manufacturing.", he said.

He further added, "We also need to look at transmission difficulties in certain areas. Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage is another technology which needs to be expedited and shared. We looked at issues of supply chain disruptions and highlighted the need for diversifying supply chains, especially in light of critical minerals availability. The issues of affordability of energy were  discussed and Interconnections of grids was also taken up. The International Solar Alliance launched a Green Hydrogen Innovation Centre. By and large, the Ministers felt it was a success and congratulated India for a very well organized Ministerial.”

Secretary, Ministry of Power, Shri Pankaj Agarwal; Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Shri Bhupinder Singh Bhalla; Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power, Shri Ajay Tewari; and Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Shri Abhay Bakre were also present at the conference.

An excursion to Basilica Bom Jesus and a heritage walk were also organized.

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PIB DELHI / GOA | AM / DJM / GSK/PK

 

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