G20 working group arrives at a consensus to ensure universal access to modern & sustainable energy & promote fuels for future, Alok Kumar

Differences were related to implementation details which will be addressed before the next meeting in Goa in July

Two fuels including green hydrogen and biofuels to be promoted during energy transitions, Bio fuels to be second and third generation which will not impinge on food security but they will increase farmers income and green jobs

There is a proposal for G20 to double the energy efficiency by 2030 that is the global goal we are promoting

Sanjay Jog

Union power secretary Alok Kumar on Wednesday said that by and large there has been consensus on the principles and areas arrived at during the deliberations on India’s G20 presidency in the area of energy transitions. However, he admitted that there were differences relating to the implementation details which will be addressed before the next meeting at Goa slated for July.

‘’Most notable is the consensus on giving high priority to ensuring universal access to modern and sustainable energy to everybody on the planet. India represents the voice of the global south and our priority is the energy transitions be done in the manner to fulfil the energy requirement, security and everybody has access to modern sustainable energy that has been agreed at the working group level,’’ he added. He was speaking after the conclusion of a three day meeting of G20 3rd  Energy Transitions Working Group held in Mumbai.

Kumar, who was accompanied by additional secretary Ajay Tewari and Bureau of Energy Efficiency Director General Abhay Bakre, said there was unanimity of giving priority for promoting fuels for future. Two fuels have very good prospects one is the green hydrogen and biofuels. There are other methods also to produce almost zero carbon hydrogen. In some methods there is carbon hydrogen while in renewable energy none so we call it green hydrogen. Similarly, green hydrogen can be produced through nuclear energy also.

‘’There has been consensus on promoting green or equally clean hydrogen for addressing the need of decarbonisation in certain industries like steel, shipping, fertilisers, refineries, aviation, shipping where technology does not permit direct use of renewable energy,’’ said Kumar.

‘’The other area is biofuels. India has a very good success in ethanol blending. We have achieved 10% and going in for 20% that has already been started. All G20 countries considering their national requirements and priorities they will work to promote larger use of biofuels and that is second and third generation biofuels which will not impinge on food security. We will produce biofuels from such materials like waste, residue which will not impinge on food security. This will enhance the income of the farmers and promote a large number of green jobs in the economy. Energy transitions should be a win-win situation, it should not lead to pains and difficulties,’’ said Kumar.

‘’Along with this meeting we had successful organisation of seven side events including low cost financing for new technologies, promoting biofuels and proposal to start global alliance, just transition roadmap (There areas in various countries where there is shift in technologies but while doing so it needs to be ensured that there are no job loss but create different types of jobs and activities), offshore wind technology which will be new resource for India’s power sector (it does not need land and it has higher capacity utilisation factor to meet the peak demand especially during evening. We intend to reach 50 GW in next 20 years), sharing global practices to decarbonise in certain industries like steel, cement and transport like shipping, aviation or long distance trucks and how to promote small and modular reactors (SMRs) for the clean energy transitions to generate electricity through nuclear energy.  SMRs are of small size and they are produced in the factory while taking less time. They can be mass produced with low cost,’’ said Kumar.

In addition, the working group discussed accelerating energy efficiency promoting LIFE (lifestyle for environment). ‘’Our proposal is for the G20 that we should double the energy efficiency by 2030. That is the global goal we are promoting.  Apart from these seven side events we also had one interaction between G20 and B20. G20 consists of government delegations while B20 has corporates who discuss how to contribute during energy transitions. During this interaction the corporates shared their experiences and what they expect from the government,’’ he noted.