G20 podium
The G20 Energy Ministers, met under India’s G20 Presidency, in Goa on Saturday , 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. The G20 Energy Ministers also recognised a need to scale up the deployment of renewable energy at an accelerated pace, address challenges including power systems flexibility, remove the barriers hindering their deployment, and bring down costs while noting the significance of our voluntary contributions towards efforts to triple the aforementioned energy technologies capacity globally, through existing targets and policies in line with national circumstances, by 2030.
Union minister of power 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. He added that the pace of energy transitions needs to be increased.
emphasised need for sharing of technology, and for low-cost financing especially for developing countries
“We agreed that the pace of energy transitions needs to be increased. 85% of all capacity additions in the past year has been 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 were 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.”
Further, the G20 Energy Ministers recognised the role of grid interconnections, resilient energy infrastructure and regional/cross-border power systems integration, where applicable, in enhancing energy security, fostering economic growth, and facilitating universal energy access for all, in affordable, reliable and sustainable manner. ‘’We call for increased public and private investments, noting the important role of International Finance Institutions including Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) in supporting developing countries to exploit the full benefits of regional/cross- border interconnections, where deemed appropriate,’’ said the document.
