Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the 2nd International Conference on Green Hydrogen. He recommitted India to a global leader in green energy and outlined a critical element for green hydrogen in the country’s energy transition endeavors. He explained in detail how India had already fulfilled its commitment to green energy that it had promised under the Paris Agreement nine years ahead of the 2030 deadline. Modi, on his part, seized the opportunity to call for international collaboration in developing green hydrogen technology and listed the achievements made in India to give shape to the emerging technology.
India Meets Paris Climate Goals Ahead of Others
During the conference, PM Modi let the world audience know that India was one of the first G20 nations that have realized its commitments under the Paris climate accord. The country, which aimed to reach the targets in green energy by 2030, accomplished this in 2021. Modi highlighted India’s success at a near 300% increase in non-fossil fuel energy production in the last decade and over 3,000% increase in solar energy production. He said that, while this is impressive, India’s resolve to consolidating old renewable energy solutions while finding new areas like green hydrogen remains undiminished.
Green Hydrogen Rising
Acquired through the purchase of renewable energy sources, green hydrogen was one of the highlights of Modi’s address. He counted it as a promising solution for industries that are quite hard to decarbonize, including refineries, fertilizers, steel production, and heavy transportation. He added, green hydrogen could be an efficient storage method for excess renewable energy, seen by many as one of the biggest challenges facing solar and wind energy production.
Modi’s remarks on green hydrogen are in harmony with India’s broader goals highlighted in the National Green Hydrogen Mission rolled out in 2023. The mission intends to put India at the forefront as a worldwide community for producing, using, and exporting green hydrogen. Innovation, infrastructure, and investment have been proposed in this initiative so that India could soon turn out to be a strong player in the international landscape in green energy.
Economic and Job Creation Potential
The Prime Minister pointed out that green hydrogen has immense potential from the point of view of economics and jobs creation, stating that the government is focused on developing a green jobs ecosystem. He also pointed out that investments in state-of-the-art research and development were being made, adding that industry-academia collaboration was at the core. Promotion of startups and entrepreneurs for green hydrogen also forms part of the strategy of India to spur innovation and create new jobs.
Modi went on to say that such skill development initiatives by the government would allow the country’s youth to take up professions in the green energy sector. The focus on green hydrogen becomes part of a larger strategy by India to reach net-zero emissions by 2045.
Global Cooperation and Innovation
On the global energy transition, Modi insisted that international cooperation on green hydrogen and decarbonization had become a dire need. He appealed for shared effort to be made in building green hydrogen production, reduction of costs, and putting up related infrastructure. According to Modi, nations can do faster work on investment in research, development, and technology innovation.
Recently, the G20 Summit in New Delhi, held this September 2023, has brought into sharp focus that green hydrogen was one of the key focal areas of discussion. The G20 Leaders’ Declaration included five high-level voluntary principles on hydrogen to create a harmonized global roadmap for the development and deployment of green hydrogen technologies.
Challenges and Opportunities in Green Hydrogen
Modi, in his address, outlined some of the challenges the green hydrogen industry faces and put some basic questions before the scientific community. He called upon experts to work on bringing down the cost of electrolysers that are used in the production of green hydrogen by reducing their inefficiencies and also finding ways to generate hydrogen from seawater and wastewater of municipalities.
The Prime Minister added that such a response to these challenges would unlock the true potential of green hydrogen. He indicated that green hydrogen can be of particular assistance in public transportation, shipping, and inland waterways-sectors where the fuel would provide a clean alternative compared with the traditional fuels.
A Call to Collective Action
Concluding his speech, Modi appealed for collective global action to expedite the development and deployment of green hydrogen. He expressed confidence that platforms like the International Conference on Green Hydrogen would facilitate meaningful exchange on key challenges relating to the green energy sector and lead to innovative solutions. He further called upon scientists, innovators, and policymakers to bring in changes in public policy that could further support the growth of the green hydrogen sector.
The address by the Prime Minister on this occasion conveyed the message that India is not merely keen to meet its own set of goals relating to energy transition, but it is also ready and willing to take the lead in the global push toward sustainable energy solutions. In focusing on green hydrogen, India purports to create a future that would be economically resilient and ecologically viable.
Source: Adapted from statements by Prime Minister Modi at the 2nd International Conference on Green Hydrogen.