New Delhi: The Ministerial meeting of the US-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) was held between Union Minister Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri and US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in New Delhi.

During the meeting, India and US noted the growing importance of bilateral energy cooperation and underscored the importance of bilateral clean energy engagement.

India and US welcomed the growing energy trade between the two countries. The two nations underscored the importance of bilateral clean energy engagement and the achievements of the US-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) in strengthening energy security, creating opportunities for clean energy innovation, addressing climate change and creating employment generation opportunities.

"During the meeting, the sides noted the growing importance of bilateral energy cooperation between the countries while underscoring the critical importance of bilateral clean energy engagement and the achievements of the SCEP in strengthening energy security, creating opportunities for clean energy innovation, addressing climate change and creating employment generation opportunities," the India-USA Strategic Clean Energy Partnership Ministerial joint statement reads.

"In this context, the sides welcomed the growing energy trade between the countries which has been consistently scaling new heights and welcomed the commercial partnerships facilitated by the SCEP," it added.

The two sides renewed their commitment to work towards a just, orderly and sustainable energy transition, which prioritises access to reliable, affordable, and clean energy supply. India and US underscored the importance of joint action and collaboration for bilateral progress and for navigating the global energy transition.

The two nations reviewed the SCEP mandate which over the years has deepened and strengthened collaboration across a wide breadth of clean energy work streams, including clean and renewable energy, energy efficiency, increased collaboration in emerging technologies like battery storage and swapping technologies, gas hydrates, advanced biofuels, and hydrogen and electrolyzer production.

India and US recognised the importance of producing green hydrogen as a critical energy source for global decarbonisation and agreed to support each other’s national hydrogen missions, according to the joint statement.

The two sides welcomed the work carried out by the five pillars of the SCEP towards deepening the cooperation between the public and private sectors to support decarbonization in both countries, including through public-private task forces, reverse trade missions, India-US Business Roundtables chaired by the Ministers, and other commercial dialogues.

The two sides emphasized the importance of promoting energy access, affordability and energy justice in each country. India and US noted that successfully achieving climate and clean energy aspirations necessitates coordinated efforts on the development of energy transition roadmaps, capacity building, job skilling, and sharing of best practices at all levels of government.

The two sides agreed to work towards the development of net zero villages in India to support the clean energy transition. India and US discussed ways of advancing the positive agenda outlined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden in their joint statement released on June 22, 2023, according to the joint statement.

In the joint statement, India and US welcomed efforts under the SCEP to develop and deploy energy storage technologies, enhance collaboration in support of their respective national hydrogen strategies and cost reduction goals, and accelerate cooperation on new and emerging renewable energy technologies.

The ministers welcomed the establishment of the public-private Energy Storage Task Force and related efforts to support the large-scale integration of renewable energy needed to support the clean energy transition. The two sides welcomed the deepened collaboration to scale and accelerate the deployment of hydrogen technologies through the public-private Hydrogen Task Force and other efforts in support of their national hydrogen strategies, including a focus on common cost reduction goals.

Jennifer Granholm and Hardeep Singh Puri welcomed the launch of the US-India New and Emerging Renewable Energy Technologies Action Platform (RETAP) to accelerate the development of key technologies to advance common ambitious clean energy goals.

The two sides welcomed the leaders’ priority of reducing carbon emissions in the transportation sector through zero-emissions vehicles and continued collaboration on securing funding and enabling affordable and accessible debt and equity financing for the e-mobility sector. The two ministers recognized the importance of the "Electric Vehicle (EV) financing services facility" which will create dedicated funds for e-mobility.

The two sides welcomed cooperation between India and the US to advance research, development and commercialisation of technologies in the emerging fuels arena, including bio-ethanol, renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuels, and other advanced biofuels as a unique and valued asset to the transition to a cleaner energy future.

The leaders affirmed the vision of PM Modi and US President Biden for establishing the Global Biofuels Alliance which is scheduled to be launched this week in Goa. The Ministers discussed the role that the Global Biofuels Alliance will play in strengthening markets, facilitating global biofuels trade, development of concrete policy lesson-sharing and provision of technical support for national biofuels programs worldwide.

The two sides underscored the importance of a stable, sustainable, diversified, resilient, and globally responsible clean energy supply chain to enable energy transition pathways while minimizing risks and uncertainty. They also welcomed ongoing collaboration in such areas as modernizing the power system to improve the reliability, resilience, flexibility, affordability, and sustainability of clean energy systems.

The two leaders welcomed the collaboration between the two nations in promoting energy efficiency and conservation, including in buildings, appliances, and the industrial sector, reducing emissions across the oil and gas sector, including through examining methane abatement and transfer and deployment of technologies under voluntary and mutually agreeable terms and advancing emerging technologies to support electrification and decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors.

The two sides recognised the role of carbon capture, utilisation and storage to reduce emissions, according to the joint statement. The two nations agreed to spur partnership in this area by building on existing cooperation and welcoming new collaboration including exploring the geologic carbon storage potential. US and India welcomed the addition of Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage as a work stream under the Emerging Fuels and Technology Pillar.

The two sides welcomed engagement through the Low-Emissions Gas Task Force to reduce emissions across the sector through the deployment of emerging technologies like CCUS, hydrogen, alternative fuels, and methane abatement technologies. The two leaders welcomed the commercial partnerships facilitated by this platform.

The two sides acknowledged the collaboration of USAID with various Indian agencies including Indian Railways, NTPC Green National Skills Development Corporation, Skills Council for Green Jobs, and the Forum of Regulators. The two sides welcomed USAID support on the feasibility of Green Chemicals for NTPC, recognizing the importance of such initiatives to ensure the development of sustainable and clean energy systems.

India and US welcomed cooperation between USAID and Indian power PSUs, including the NTPC and SJVN in the creation of a clean energy financing policy to ensure the development of sustainable, resilient, and clean energy systems, according to the joint statement. The two nations noted the importance of robust life cycle assessments and building modelling capacity to assess low carbon technologies costs and emissions, and best practices for modelling and analytics of energy consumption.

Both sides launched the South Asia Group for Energy (SAGE) to deepen the engagement between Indian agencies and US national laboratories to support research, analysis and capacity-building activities such as building modelling capacity in Life Cycle Assessment of low carbon technologies and analytics on energy consumption in the building sector.

The two sides noted the work carried out by PNGRB, India and FERC, US under their MoU framework towards the development of competitive markets, promotion of investment in the oil and natural gas sector, protection of consumer interests, capacity building of personnel, updation of regulatory framework.

They also appreciated the work done by PNGRB, India and ASME, US to develop and establish policies and programs and procedures that will promote and sustain a market for Oil and Gas in India that aligns with ASME standards and certification programs and practices.

The sides lauded the longstanding joint R&D under the Partnership to Advance Clean Energy-Research (PACE-R), including the US-India Collaborative for Smart Distribution System with Storage (UI-ASSIST) consortium co-led by Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and Washington State University. The two leaders welcomed the importance of such R&D Initiatives and the successes of PACE-R to date and highlighted the final year of the R&D track on advanced smart grid and energy storage technologies.

"Agencies from across the U.S. and Indian governments demonstrated a number of accomplishments across the five technical pillars of cooperation on - 1) Power & Energy Efficiency, 2) Renewable Energy, 3) Responsible Oil & Gas, 4) Sustainable Growth, and 5) Emerging Fuels and Technologies," India-USA Strategic Clean Energy Partnership Ministerial Joint Statement reads.

Hardeep Singh Puri and Jennifer Granholm affirmed that the SCEP represents a comprehensive vision to decarbonise while ensuring healthy rates of growth for both countries. The two leaders expressed hope that the work undertaken under the SCEP will continue to pave the way for a new and promising future.