Goa Hosts 14th Clean Energy Ministerial and 8th Mission Innovation Meeting

The 4th Energy Transitions Working Group (ETWG) Meeting under India’s G20 Presidency began in Goa yesterday, July 19, 2023. On the sidelines of the main event, the 14^th Clean Energy Ministerial and 8^th Mission Innovation Meeting too commenced on Day 1 with great enthusiasm and active participation from more than 34 member countries. The event began with a warm welcome from the Government of India, followed by special addresses by other CEM Troika members (USA and Brazil) and remarks from CEM and MI Secretariats. The theme for this year is "Advancing Clean Energy Together."

The first day of the CEM witnessed an impressive attendance of more than 800 individuals, including CEM Workstream coordinators, international agencies, researchers, policy experts, industry professionals, and more. Additionally, the event featured about 30 side events organised by over 50 partners. These side events focused on various themes such as energy efficiency, clean fuels, clean power, mobility and industry decarbonisation.

CEM14 / MI8 also features a public-facing a Technology and Cultural showcase demonstrating cutting-edge advances in clean energy from India and around the world. The Technology and Cultural Showcase, which is being held at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in Goa from July 19^th-22^nd, 2023, was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Goa Dr. Pramod Sawant, in presence of Shri Sudin Dhavalikar, Minister of Power, Goa; Shri Pankaj Agarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India; Shri Ajay Tewari, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India; and Shri Abhay Bakre, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency. The Technology Showcase will feature new and emerging technologies like Electric Vehicles, Hydrogen, and other clean technologies from across the world. Technology showcase will be organized under three parts, namely, Vehicle and Charging Infrastructure Showcase (by SIAM, TERI, CALSTART, and Drive to Zero), Mission Innovation (by Department of Science and Technology), and Clean Tech Start-up (TERI). The first group of 130 students of Agnel Polytechnic participated in the tech showcase.

The State Government of Goa is organising a cultural showcase highlighting the cultural flavour of Goa.

The timing of showcase is 11 am – 6 pm. The Showcase is open to all attendees and will feature interactive experiences.

A session was arranged to address the topic of 'financing Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage', which aimed to bring together commercial banks, multilateral development banks, governments, and industry representatives. The main focus of this event was to explore strategies and ideas on how to make the financing of carbon management projects more attractive.

The event on ‘Global Carbon Management Challenge’ highlighted key success factors for implementation that included workable incentivising policy frameworks, suitable financial frameworks and timely appraisal of geological CO2 storage opportunities.

The session organised by Nordic Green Valley on ‘Hydrogen – the Nordic Rally to the Valley and Nordic Green Sailing’ focused on how closer cooperation and knowledge sharing between the Nordic and other countries can speed up rapid innovation and deployment of Hydrogen Valleys.

The session on clean fuels deliberated on concerns related to the sustainable production and use of biomass feedstocks to slow the needed expansion of appropriate uses of biomass to produce renewable fuels, chemicals, and materials. Likewise, uncertainty regarding the amount of biomass available for sustainable, productive use reduces investor confidence in the future demand for bio-based products.

The session on ‘Collaboration for Advancing Global Action on Sustainable Cooling’ highlighted sustainable cooling as a priority topic of discussion while encouraging global action. The COP and global events as a lead up to COP28, present a unique opportunity to reflect on the needs of heat-stressed countries; for climate-friendly and sustainable cooling and to strengthen and scale response and preparedness to extreme heat.

At the Gigatonne Opportunity Initiative event, a coalition of private and public stakeholders agreed to collaborate to deliver solutions on the gigatonne scale and present strategies to relevant stakeholders at COP28. This call to action comes from the UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub, which also participated in the event. In the session on ‘energy compacts’, India's dedication to a clean energy future and its commitment to SDG7 was highlighted through various ambitious Energy Compacts established by government partners, private sector stakeholders, and multi-sector collaborations. The primary purpose of these compacts is to drive efforts toward achieving net-zero emissions while advancing universal energy access.

The possibilities of diverse carbon removal technologies in aiding the pursuit of net-zero emissions were also part of the discussion on the first day. The panellists examined the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches, including nature-based solutions, direct air capture, and carbon capture and storage, and explored their potential synergies to attain the desired goals. The discussion also encompassed the technological obstacles and emphasised the significance of policy and regulation to promote the adoption and expansion of carbon removal technologies.

A session was also organised to highlight clean energy technology requirements and possibilities for cooperation. This session specifically emphasised the major focus areas for technical pathways, identified data gaps, and explored how collaborative research and development (R&D) efforts could effectively bridge these gaps.

The Ministerial plenaries are scheduled for July 21, 2023, while back-to-back G20 Energy Transition Ministerial Meeting will be held on July 22.

The full list of side events and other engagements can be found in the programme agenda, which can be accessed here.

India's G20 Presidency is committed to strengthening global cooperation in clean energy transition.

The website of CEM / MI can be accessed here: https://www.cem-mi-india.org/.