International Cooperation will play a key role in achieving India’s Net Zero emissions target by 2070, says Dr Jitendra Singh

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Science and Technology, MoS PMO and Minister of State, Ministry of Personnel and Public Grievances, Dr Jitendra Singh yesterday said International Cooperation will play a key role in achieving India’s Net Zero emissions target by 2070 as laid out by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

“We all have a collective responsibility to work together for a more secure and sustainable future. The ever-growing challenges of climate change are beyond the control of one country, organization, company, or any individual effort,” said Dr Jitendra Singh, during the Website and Logo launch event of the Joint 8^th Mission Innovation Ministerial (MI-8) and 14^th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM-14). The Website and Logo were launched jointly by Dr Jitendra Singh and Union Power & NRE Minister Shri R. K. Singh.

India will host the MI-8 jointly with CEM-14 during July 19-21, 2023, alongside the G20 Energy Transition (ET) Ministerial meeting in Goa. The Mission Innovation Ministerial will have the participation of Ministers and Heads of delegation from MI Member Countries, the European Union and International Organizations along with select high-level invitees representing key stakeholders from Industry, Research, academia, citizen organizations and Innovators from around the globe. The focus for this year’s Ministerial is ‘Advancing the Continuum of R&D towards Pilot Demonstration on Clean Energy Technologies.’

Dr Jitendra Singh said, as India is celebrating 75 Years of Independence and in this special moment (Amritkal), hosting the Annual Ministerial Meeting of MI will be pivotal in turning our ambitious clean energy commitments into action while ensuring energy security and accessibility.

“Mission Innovation initiative is in line with our Hon’ble PM’s vision of national aspiration on India’s climate action called Panchamrit, outlined during COP26,” he said.

Under the Panchamrit action plan, India aims to reach a non-fossil fuel energy capacity of 500 GW by 2030; fulfilling at least half of its energy requirements via renewable energy by 2030; reduce CO2 emissions by 1 billion tons by 2030; reduce carbon intensity below 45 per cent by 2030; and pave the way for achieving a net-zero emissions target by 2070.

The term ‘Mission Innovation’ was coined by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. Mission Innovation (MI) is a global initiative of 23 Countries and the European Commission (on behalf of the European Union) to accelerate the Clean Energy revolution and progress towards the Paris Agreement goals and pathways to net zero. India was one of the founding members of Mission Innovation. The main objective of MI is to catalyze a decade of action and investment in research, development and demonstration to make clean energy affordable, attractive and accessible for all.

The first phase of Mission Innovation (MI) (2015-2020) was announced at COP21 on November 30, 2015, as world leaders came together in Paris to commit the ambitious efforts to combat climate change, All the member countries are putting in effort and committed to double Government funding on clean energy research, development and demonstration (RD&D) over 5 years and enhance international and private sector engagement, cooperation and investments in programmes on clean energy RD&D.

In the first phase of Mission Innovation, India

• Led three MI Innovation Challenges, such as Smart Grids, Off Grid Access to Electricity and Sustainable Biofuels
• Funding Opportunity Announcements in the identified Innovation Challenge areas
• Financial and technical contribution to the Global Cooling Prize
• Two MI Champions
• Hosted many workshops for the Analysis & Joint Research Group, the Innovation Challenges and MI 2.0 development meetings

After a successful 5 years stint of the first phase and recognizing the vital need for clean energy investment to accelerate innovation, the second phase of Mission Innovation (MI2.0) was launched on June 2, 2021. The focus of MI2.0 is on a decade of action (2021-2030) and the emphasis is to scale up the deployment of innovative clean energy technology and make clean energy affordable, attractive and accessible for all. This will accelerate the progress towards the Paris Agreement goals and pathways to net zero.

A series of Missions and Innovation Platforms have been launched to accelerate the frontiers of innovation and drive down the cost of technologies by driving public-private action in areas critical to global clean energy transitions.

India remains one of the key members and allies for the ambitious climate and energy goals of MI2.0 as well with the following active participation.

• Co-leads the Integrated Biorefineries Mission
• Member of the Clean Hydrogen Mission
• A core coalition member of the Green Powered Future Mission (GPFM).  Recently, an Industry Oriented Stakeholder Workshop on Green Powered Future was held on the 8^th of May followed by an industry-oriented stakeholder workshop on Affordable and Sustainable Heating and Cooling of Buildings on the 9^th of May 2023 at MNIT Jaipur.
• Core group member of the Zero-Emissions Shipping Mission and Urban Transitions Mission
• Support group member of Carbon Dioxide Removal Mission
• Contributes to the Innovation Platform (Accelerate module – leads the MI Clean Tech Exchange; Collaborate module – co-leads the Innovation Communities on Affordable Heating and Cooling of Buildings and Innovation for Sustainable Aviation Fuels and participant in Materials for Energy)
• Member of the Mission Innovation Steering Committee and Technical Advisory Group (TAG)
• Provides resources to the Mission Innovation Secretariat – Collaborate with Module Manager

Secretary, S&T, Dr Srivari Chandrasekhar; Secretary, Power, Shri Alok Kumar; Secretary, MNRE, Shri Bhupinder Singh Bhalla; DG, BEE, Shri Abhay Bakre and Senior Officers were present. The head of the CEM and MI Secretariat addressed the function through video conference, besides Government delegates of CEM and MI from 32 countries also joined the event through VC.

Disclaimer: This is an official press release by pib.