India’s G20 Presidency is driving critical action on energy trilemma

In an exclusive interview, Shri Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa of India during its Presidency of the G20, outlines why India Energy Week is the perfect platform to showcase India’s achievements on energy transition and its alignment with the priorities of the first G20 Energy Transitions Working Group meeting

How important is India Energy Week 2023 from the perspective of India’s G20 Presidency? How does it reflect on the unique opportunity to showcase India as an engine of global economic growth and a driver for global consumption?

India Energy Week is an important platform where policy makers, businesses and investors network, ideate, and conduct businesses. It is happening alongside the first Energy Transitions Working Group (ETWG) meeting in Bengaluru from 5-7 February 2023.

Since many G20 countries are also participating at India Energy Week, the exhibitions and conferences are a great opportunity for India to showcase its potential, achievements and initiatives undertaken to drive the global energy transition agenda.

India is the world’s fastest growing large economy and its energy demand is expected to drive the largest increase in energy production over the next two decades. This will require diversifying the energy mix to include all possible energy sources including renewables, biofuels and green hydrogen, to unlock economy’s full potential and address the energy trilemma of security, affordability, and sustainability.

What are you looking forward to most at the inaugural India Energy Week?

I look forward to India Energy Week discussions on themes such as Energy Security; Pathways for Decarbonisation; Resilient Energy Supply Chains; Emerging Fuels such as Biofuels and Hydrogen, Investments in Upstream and Midstream Sector, and so on as they closely align with the broad priorities of G20 ETWG meeting.

As the G20 President for 2023, how is India helping revitalise global commitments to the energy transition and spearheading the collective voice of developing nations? How do events such as India Energy Week make it count?

India’s G20 Presidency agenda is inclusive, ambitious, action-oriented, and decisive. Our G20 Presidency will inter alia focus on developing consensus on ensuring energy security, diversified supply chains, low-cost financing, and identifying collaborative measures to address technology gaps for achieving energy transition. Through these, our G20 Presidency’s endeavour is to give resonance to the voice of the global south and to highlight our common concerns of ensuring access to sustainable, reliable and affordable energy, while realising our SDG goals and climate ambitions.

What lessons can India offer to the world in terms of balancing between energy access and affordability, energy security, and environmental considerations even as it journeys to satisfy the aspiration for higher living standards for its citizens?

India is the fastest growing large economy in the world, and yet, has not let its commitments to the environment and energy transition get diluted even a single bit. We are the third largest producer of renewable energy in the world and remain committed to meeting 50% of our energy requirements from renewables by 2030. Despite being home to 1.3 billion people, India’s contribution to the world’s cumulative emissions is less than 4 per cent and annual per capita emissions are about one-third of the global average.

India has achieved its National Determined Contributions (NDC) targets nine years ahead of schedule. Since then, we have further updated our NDC towards achieving India’s long-term goal of reaching net-zero by 2070. Initiatives like Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes for promotion of manufacturing and adoption of renewable energy, FAME scheme for EV promotion, Ujjwala scheme, Ethanol blended fuels, Green Hydrogen Mission, have played a vital part. Through Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), a mantra given by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at COP26, which is also a G20 priority, we wish to highlight the urgency of bringing in a paradigm shift from mindless and destructive consumption to mindful and deliberate utilisation of resources.

How critical is the role of Indian start-ups in catalysing India’s innovation ecosystem, especially in the energy sector? Can this be a model for other advanced global economies to follow?

India ranks third globally in the startup ecosystem, and also in terms of number of Unicorns. We have more than 80,000 Startups. The decade 2021-30 is expected to bring transformational changes for Indian Science, Technology and Innovation. We have made rapid strides in global innovation index and ease of doing business. Startups in the renewable energy space are fast emerging, with their impactful, scalable and low-cost clean energy solutions, which could help address existing energy challenges.

Could you outline some of the G20 discussions to expect in the months ahead on energy security, accessibility and affordability, energy efficiency, renewable energy, innovation, technology and financing, especially at the Energy Transition Working Group?

The Energy Transitions Working Group of the G20 aims to strengthen collective efforts to diversifying energy sources, particularly renewables; ensuring more resilient supply chains; and enhancing production of and access to alternative clean fuels such as Green Hydrogen, while fully taking care of the developmental needs of developing countries including secured and affordable energy access.

India’s G20 Presidency would be deliberating on the following key priorities – energy transition through addressing technological gaps; low-cost financing for energy transition; energy security and diversified supply chains; energy efficiency, industrial low carbon transitions and responsible consumption, fuels for future; and Universal access to clean and affordable energy. As regarding the precise outcomes of the G20, these will flow out of the discussions held during the G20 Energy Transitions Working Group meeting and the G20 Energy Ministerial Meeting.