India and Japan decided to expand their clean energy alliance to include electric vehicles, battery storage, and green hydrogen as the two Asian economic powerhouses shift toward net zero carbon emissions.
After Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio met India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the 14th India-Japan Annual Summit, the two countries issued a joint statement outlining areas of collaboration.
“India and Japan recognize the importance of pursuing a range of energy sources to provide a safe and stable supply of energy in order to achieve both economic growth and climate change mitigation goals. They agree that there is no single path to a low-carbon economy, but rather that each country must choose its own path “It was stated.
While India aims to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2070, Japan aims to do it by 2050.
“Both countries are capitalizing on low-carbon sunrise sectors and leveraging new technologies and business models to mitigate climate change,” the joint statement stated. “This is an enormous opportunity to strengthen bilateral collaboration in the field of clean and sustainable development.”
The two countries agreed to expand their cooperation under the Japan-India Energy Dialogue from 2007 to include electric vehicles (EV), storage systems such as batteries, electric vehicle charging infrastructure (EVCI), solar energy development including solar photovoltaic cells, wind energy, and clean coal technologies.
Additionally, they collaborate on environmentally friendly hydrogen and ammonia, as well as LNG, biofuels, and strategic oil reserves.
“Under the terms of this Partnership, both parties agree that cooperation may also be pursued in other areas, including through collaboration between leading research institutions and the private sector in both countries to implement practical steps consistent with their respective energy transition plans,” the statement stated, adding that these could include the disposal, recycling, and reclamation of useful material from batteries, solar panels, turbine blades, and electronics; as well as clean steel and clean construction.
These sectors, the report stated, are seeing rapid growth and offer the greatest commercial prospects.
“As part of ongoing efforts to build global and resilient supply chains, long-term collaboration should be established in areas such as research and development (R&D), technology transfer, training and capacity building, and low-cost long-term financing,” it stated.
“By encouraging job creation, innovation, and investment, the alliance will contribute to clean growth. Additionally, it would indicate to the world that India and Japan are leading the way in achieving ambitious climate and sustainable development goals.”
