India, US to revamp Strategic Energy Partnership
31 Mar 2021
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A spike in the prices of crude oil, especially after the producer cartel Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) has forced India to revamp its Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP) with the United States.
Towards this, India’s minister of petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday held a virtual meeting with US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.
While the meeting was only introductory, both leaders agreed to revamp the India-US SEP to reflect the new priorities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden with focus on promoting clean energy with low-carbon pathways and accelerating green energy cooperation.
They agreed to prioritise greater collaboration in cleaner energy sector- biofuels, CCUS, hydrogen production and carbon sequestration through technology exchange, joint R&D through Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Research (PACE-R), among other initiatives.
Both sides agreed to convene the third meeting of a revamped India-US Strategic Energy Partnership at an early date. They decided to intensify the efforts to take advantage of the complementarities of both the countries -advanced US technologies and rapidly growing India’s energy market, for a win-win situation through a cleaner energy route with low carbon pathways.
The two countries had earlier, under the Trump administration, held two SEPs with the focus on supply of fossil fuels from America rather than cooperation in reducing carbon footprints. Whil the import of fossil fuel from the US will continue, Washington will support India’s efforts for clean energy, reports citing sources said.
The first SEP was held on 17 April 2018 while the second meeting took place on 17 July 2020
