India and the United Kingdom plan to explore the possibility of setting up a world bank for green energy. This was discussed during a meeting of United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-26) president Alok Sharma with union power and new and renewable energy minister Raj Kumar Singh in the national capital on Tuesday.
Sharma was in New Delhi on a three-day visit, from 16 August. It was reported earlier that the second visit of COP-26 president to India in the run up to United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Glasgow later this year.
According to a power ministry statement, Sharma expressed UK’s willingness to collaborate with India on green hydrogen. This comes in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech on Sunday announcing the National Hydrogen Mission.
“The UK side was invited to participate in the upcoming bids for Green Hydrogen and lithium-ion," the statement said. Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, using an electrolyzer powered by electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, and can be a game changer for India, which imports 85% of its oil and 53% of gas demand.
India has also rolled out a Rs. 181 billion production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for building Tesla-style giga factories to manufacture batteries. The plan is to set up a 50 giga watt hour (GWh) manufacturing capacity for advance chemistry cell batteries by attracting investments totaling Rs. 450 billion.
“Both the sides expressed their willingness to explore the possibility of establishing a World bank for Green Energy which could materialise the proposal for $100 billion climate finance pledged by the developed countries under the Paris Agreement. The UK side requested India’s support for organizing a successful COP26," the union power ministry statement said.
