State Dept. on U.S.-India Cooperation on Energy, Climate
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesperson
June 13, 2012
FACT SHEET
U.S.-India Bilateral Cooperation on Energy and Climate Change
Recalling the 2009 U.S.-India MOU on clean energy, energy efficiency,
energy security and climate change, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
and Minister of External Affairs S.M. Krishna reaffirmed their countries' strong
commitment to work collaboratively in bilateral and multilateral fora to help
ensure mutual energy security, combat global climate change and support the
development of low-carbon economies that will create opportunities and fuel job
growth in both countries. The two countries will continue to consult regularly
on the future of global oil and gas markets, expanding sustainable energy access
to support jobs and economic growth in both countries, collaborating in research
and technology, and increasing U.S. exports of clean energy technology.
Ensuring Mutual Energy Security: Recognizing the implications of energy
access for national security, both countries will continue their efforts to
advance mutual energy security and ensure access to secure, reliable, and
affordable energy supplies. Highlighting the role of natural gas as a bridge
fuel toward a clean energy future, the United States will continue to support
India's efforts as its seeks to increase natural gas as a share of its energy
mix. Through the State Department's Unconventional Gas Technical Engagement
Program, the United States also agreed to share U.S. experience and best
practices in establishing the necessary environmental protection and regulatory
framework as India prepares for its first shale gas bid round, scheduled for
2013. Both countries recognize the need to work collaboratively through the IEA
in the event of global supply disruptions. The United States welcomed India's
leadership in the progress that has been made on the Turkmenistan-Afgh
anistan-Pakistan-India pipeline and agreed to support the project and other
energy-related regional efforts through continued diplomatic engagement. To
further support these efforts, the countries announced the next meeting of the
Energy Dialogue in September 2012.
PACE Implementation: The U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy
(PACE) aims to accelerate the transition to low-carbon, energy secure economies
through the research and deployment of clean energy technologies. Over the past
two and a half years, PACE has mobilized more than $1.7 billion in public and
private resources for clean energy projects in India. A progress report on the
U.S. government's PACE implementation efforts can be found here.
.. In April 2012, both sides announced the first consortia awardees under
the PACE Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center. The joint
U.S.-India consortia will dedicate efforts towards the discovery of
transformational scientific and technological solutions in the areas of building
efficiency, solar energy and advanced biofuels. The $125 million effort in these
three technology areas will involve over the work of more than 95 government,
private and university entities over five years.
.. The two sides will continue technical cooperation on renewable energy
and energy efficiency deployment through the U.S. Department of Energy and its
national labs, supporting work on solar resource assessment and mapping, solar
technologies training for Indian financial institutions, improved wind resource
estimates, data center and IT office building efficiency and Energy Conservation
Building Code implementation at the local level.
.. In June 2012, USAID launched a new five-year technical assistance
program to accelerate India's transition to a high performing, low emissions,
and energy secure economy, in partnership with the Ministry of Power and the
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The $20 million Partnership to Advance
Clean Energy Deployment (PACE-D) contract will improve end-use energy
efficiency, increase the supply of renewable energy; and adopt and accelerate
deployment of cleaner fossil fuel technologies. The focus of the program will be
on strengthening the enabling environment, increasing access to finance, and
enhancing institutional and human capacity. It will also support the National
Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar
Mission being implemented under the India's National Action Plan on Climate
Change.
.. Recognizing that economics and innovation will be important determinants
of our future, both countries have leveraged the strengths of their private
sectors to support clean energy deployment in India. The two countries launched
the US-India Energy Cooperation Program (ECP) in late 2010 to leverage U.S.
private sector interest in clean energy deployment. With support from the U.S.
Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) the ECP has grown to 16 member companies
working to build government-to-business technical and commercial partnerships
and to mobilize funding for a growing portfolio of clean energy projects in
India. USTDA sponsored the Clean Energy Exchange Program, a series of four
reverse trade missions to the U.S. in the areas of smart grid expansion, solar
power generation, unconventional gas, and green buildings. In project
development USTDA has funded feasibility studies and pilot projects for smart
grid implementation with utilities in India and private sector led so
lar power generation, and the countries were pleased to acknowledge during
the Strategic Dialogue new USTDA commitments to sign agreements with Power Grid
Corporation for two advanced smart transmission projects. Overall, USTDA support
for infrastructure feasibility studies, reverse trade missions and other
technical assistance in India has translated into at least $1.7 billion in U.S.
exports.
.. The United States has established a Clean Energy Finance Center at the
American Center in New Delhi, staffed with representatives from the U.S.
Departments of Commerce, State, Energy, AID, USTDA, the Export-Import Bank and
OPIC. These agencies have mobilized more than $1.7 billion in public and private
resources for clean energy projects in India. To date, OPIC has contributed to
these efforts through $740 million in financing and insurance for clean energy
projects in India. Since January 2011, the Export-Import Bank has approved 9
solar energy financings in India with an aggregate value of over $300 million,
supporting 238 MW of generation. Additionally, there is another $100M (60MWs) of
solar energy transactions in India under consideration by the Board of
Directors. The Ambassador's Clean Energy Pathfinders Fund will support the early
planning, design, demonstration and replicable adoption of the commercial
deployment of clean energy and energy efficiency technologies
and practices in strategic sectors in India, and act as the venture arm of
the Clean Energy Finance Center.
Global Action through the Clean Energy Ministerial: India will host the
fourth meeting of the CEM (CEM4) in 2013. U.S.-India collaboration through the
CEM takes place through five initiatives and includes a strong focus on
equipment and appliance standards, awards, and incentive programs through the
Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) initiative; energy
management and cool roofs demonstration projects in India under the Global
Superior Energy Performance Partnership; and the India portion of Lighting Asia,
a program aimed at providing safe, clean and affordable off-grid lighting to two
million rural Indians over the next three years. Enhancing bilateral efforts,
CEM cooperation reflects the countries' commitment to addressing global energy
and climate challenges.
Sustained Commitment to Addressing Climate Change: The United States and
India expressed continued support for their high-level dialogue on climate
change, which contributed to the successful outcomes in Durban. Both sides
reaffirmed their intention to work together toward implementation of those
outcomes, including negotiating the 2015 "Durban Platform" agreement under the
UN Framework Convention. Further, both countries emphasized the importance of
the international community working together in the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) on effective measures to reduce global aviation emissions.
The two countries underscored their commitment to collaborate on issues such as
clean technology, adaptation, and transparency of reporting on national actions
and emissions. The United States and India successfully implemented the first
bilateral collaborative project to obtain continuous measurements of atmospheric
state, energy budgets, clouds, and aerosol properties w
ithin India, and provided critical data for improving climate models.
The United States and India also reiterated their commitment to cooperation
to address short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), which are responsible for a
significant share of near-term warming and cause millions of premature deaths
and millions of tons of crop losses on a global scale every year. Bilateral
collaboration on SLCPs includes a joint U.S.-India task force report on
climate-friendly alternatives to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), extensive
collaboration with India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation on methane abatement
from oil & gas operations through the Global Methane Initiative, and
information exchange on the countries' respective black carbon research
programs.
Support for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
(REDD+). The countries also agreed to continue bilateral collaboration under
existing frameworks on climate adaptation and reduced emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). In the summer of 2012, USAID will
award the new five-year, $15 million Partnership for Land Use Science
(Forest-PLUS) technical assistance program. The program was designed and
developed in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) to
directly support the Government of India's Green India Mission. The program aims
to reduce emissions and enhance carbon sequestration through India's forests by
taking REDD+ actions to scale. USAID and the U.S. Forest Service will also work
with the MOEF in carbon inventory and monitoring, and to pilot and test carbon
estimation methodologies.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State.)
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