ICS-2021: India to host key conference today focusing hydrogen power

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India is all set to host a key conference on Friday as part of the International Climate Summit (ICS) 2020-21 to build a dialogue for India’s transition to clean energy.

Policymakers, regulators, industry leaders, experts, and scientists from across the globe are going to be a part of the climate summit.

Union ministers Bhupendra Yadav and Jitendra Singh, NITI Aayog member Dr VK Saraswat and Sturle Harald Pedersen, chairperson of Greenstat India, Norway are some of the eminent participants.

Speaking about the International Climate Summit 2021, Dr Ashish Kishore Lele, the director of the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), said that the key conference on Friday is especially significant for India and by extension, the rest of the world since it will mark the future mitigation strategies of climate change.

He stressed the need to adopt these alternative strategies, highlighting the problems that arose due to dependence on conventional fuels.

Hydrogen power, one such ‘alternative’ strategy for India’s energy signature, has been in the headlines ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech on August 15 announced a ‘National Hydrogen Mission’ for the country.

Green hydrogen, which is produced by splitting the water molecule into its hydrogen and oxygen constituents using an electrolyzer powered by renewable energy resources, is expected to be a game-changer for India in meeting its annual energy needs.

The country, which currently imports 85 per cent of its oil and 53 per cent of its gas demands, has been reported to spend around ₹12 trillion annually on energy requirements.

Indian Prime Minister Modi, while announcing the hydrogen policy, said that India aims to become a global hub for green hydrogen production and exports. The International Climate Summit conference on Friday intends to discuss strategies to power India’s budding hydrogen ecosystem, among other agendas.

A major conference on climate change – COP26 – is also scheduled to take place at Glasgow in Scotland from October 31 to November 12, 2021. COP26 President Alok Sharma said last month that it will be the last chance to ensure global temperature increases don’t exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius – the lower limit of the Paris Agreement.

The ICS 2021 climate summit is being held in partnership with Invest India; its focus will be on ‘Powering India’s Hydrogen Ecosystem. It is being organised by the environment committee of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), a non-government industrial development organisation.

(Hindustan Times)