India, together with China and different international locations from the worldwide south, had opposed the ‘phasing out’ of coal in favour of ‘phasing down’.

On his second go to to India as govt vice-president of the European Green Deal, the previous Dutch international minister held bilateral conferences with Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi, Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav, Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy R Ok Singh, and Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Puri, aside from interacting with college students at IIT and addressing members of the CII.

“At COP 26 in Glasgow and COP 27 at Sharm El Sheikh , we worked very closely with India to reach consensus and were able find common ground. Now we’re in this huge venture together, preparing for COP 28 – whether there are certain issues we are trying to bring to the table, which I think are in line with India’s priorities. Such as, something that has been spearheaded by India for a long time – energy efficiency. We can proceed together with India and come with global targets for energy efficiency,” Timmermans, the European Commission’s local weather coverage chief, stated Friday.

Timmermans added that the second aspect, which can be very a lot a precedence with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is the introduction of renewable power on a big scale, and that the EU is hoping to achieve a consensus with India on targets on the worldwide degree.

“Obviously, we have some common challenges, such as just transition for the coal mining sector where perhaps we can also exchange experiences and learn from each other. Also, I strongly believe that if you look at the new technologies and the new industrial ecosystems that are coming about, building electrolysers, solar panels, wind turbines – I think there is huge opportunity for closer cooperation between the European Union and India. I hope we can start using the trade and technology council to the best possible effect,” stated Timmermans.

In his assembly with Yadav, the 2 officers mentioned making an attempt to determine a roadmap on points the place the European Union and India can agree. The discussions included problems with local weather finance, loss and injury, the potential for fossil fuels being changed by biofuels which will probably be an enormous alternative for India’s agricultural sector, and nature preservation, particularly in mild of accelerating excessive climate occasions.

“We should focus on reduction of all unabated fossil fuels. It is not our intention to single out coal in that. It is our intention to address all fossil fuels. Obviously, not all of them are as polluting. Some are more polluting than others. Some are already phasing out in some parts of the world and not in other parts of the world. To reach consensus the best base is what India has proposed, that is, to target all unabated fossil fuels. If we can continue to develop technologies that would allow decarbonised fossil fuels to be used, that would be great. I still believe that the future is with renewables because they are much cheaper and a country like India will have an abundance of RE after the right investments and certainly on the basis of Prime Minister Modi’s plans. But we don’t have the luxury to overlook any solution,” he stated Friday.

Timmermans additional stated that aside from the worldwide stocktake, COP 28 in Dubai this yr can even look at the progress made on guarantees of loss and injury finance in Egypt in addition to the restructuring of the structure of worldwide finance, to make it extra accessible to the worldwide south.