India and Italy are jointly seeking to strengthen partnership in energy transition and have on Saturday agreed to explore development of green hydrogen, setting up renewable energy corridors, and joint projects in the natural gas sector.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Italian PM Mario Draghi in-person for the first time during the ongoing G-20 Summit in Rome. A joint statement was issued which said that the two leaders agreed to encourage joint investments of Indian and Italian companies in energy transition-related fields.
An agreement to "initiate a dialogue to support the development and deployment of green hydrogen and related technologies in India" and to "consider working together to support a large size green corridor project in India to capitalize on India's target to produce and integrate 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030" was reached.
India is looking to increase hydrogen production from all sources, particularly green hydrogen. It has also set a target to build the capacity to generate 450 gigawatts of electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind. India is looking to more than double the share of natural gas to 15 percent by 2030.
The two leaders agreed to encourage companies to develop joint projects in natural gas sector, technological innovation for decarbonisation, smart cities and other specific domains like electrification of urban public transport, in a bid to transform into a low carbon emitting economy.
The joint statement issued, said that a joint working group established by the MoU on Cooperation in the field of Energy, that was signed in Delhi on October 30, 2017, will look into cooperation in areas like smart cities, mobility and smart-grids.
The two Prime Ministers also agreed on sharing information in the field of policy and regulatory framework including means to facilitate the transition to cleaner and commercially viable fuels and technologies, long term grid planning, incentivizing schemes for renewable and efficiency measures, along with financial instruments to accelerate clean energy transition.
Both leaders acknowledged the growth in bilateral relations between both nations since the adoption of the Action Plan on November 6, 2020.