India to focus on green initiatives to project soft power at G20: Expert

India, the world's third-largest producer of renewable energies, will look to project its soft power through its green initiatives during G20 Presidency, writes Olivier Guillard for French publication, Asialyst.

"On December 1, India, for the first time in its history, took over the presidency of the G20. Through its green initiatives, the world's third largest producer of renewable energies intends to feed its soft power and collect some external dividends in return," wrote French columnist Guillard in Asialyst.

In his article, Guillard referred to a recent report by the UK-based medical journal The Lancet, which said pollution causes at least 9 million premature victims annually in the world. Of the nine million, 90 per cent of pollution-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.

Guillard argued that the second largest population in the world, and the fifth largest economy, knows that it is in a "fragile situation" on the issue of pollution. However, he noted that the Indian government has taken several initiatives to promote greener sources of energy.

He cited the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 that was passed by Rajya Sabha on December 12 with the aim to empower the central government to specify a carbon credit trading scheme.

The Bill seeks to mandate the use of non-fossil sources, including green hydrogen, green ammonia, biomass and ethanol for energy needs and feedstock and establish carbon markets.

Another climate-friendly initiative named "National Hydrogen Mission" was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February this year with the aim to help the government meet its climate targets and make India a green hydrogen hub.

In a statement, the Union Power Ministry said this mission will help meet the target of producing 5 million tonnes of Green hydrogen by 2030 and the related development of renewable energy capacity.

"Hydrogen and Ammonia are envisaged to be the future fuels to replace fossil fuels. Production of these fuels by using power from renewable energy, termed as green hydrogen and green ammonia, is one of the nation's major requirements for environmentally sustainable energy security," the power ministry said.

It said that implementing this policy will provide clean fuel to the common people of the country, reduce dependence on fossil fuel, and reduce crude oil imports.

Talking about Prime Minister's vision of Amrit Kal this month, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, said that India will not only be a developed nation by 2047 in line with PM's vision of Amrit Kal and at the same time we will not deviate from commitment towards Green Transition.

He made these remarks on December 16 during a Curtain Raiser of India's flagship Energy Event "India Energy Week 2023 "(IEW 2023), in Bengaluru.

During the event, the Minister stated that under India's presidency of G20, we want to set up International Biofuel Alliance, according to the Petroleum Ministry release.

During the curtain raiser, Puri highlighted the tremendous strides India has made in the Energy Sector including making India an investment-friendly destination in the Exploration and Production Sector, energy infrastructure and shifting the manufacturing centre to India.