Union Minister for Science & Technology Dr. Harsh Vardhan led the Indian delegation at the 7th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM7) and the Inaugural Mission Innovation Meet at San Francisco, held on 1st and 2nd of June, 2016.
India has been a member of CEM since its inception and has joined 8 out of 13 CEM initiatives.
India is a Founding Member of the Steering Committee of the Mission Innovation and also a Member of the two sub-groups: Joint Research and Capacity Building and Private Sector Engagement.
Department of Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and Technology is coordinating the national efforts towards the Mission.
Harsh Vardhan, while making the Mission Innovation Announcement at the Ministerial Panel, stated that the Mission Innovation (MI) is the noblest mission which will help humanity in the future.
The Minister said that India’s current investment in Clean Energy Research is about $72 million which is planned to be doubled to $145 million in the near future.
He also made a Formal announcement on new joint collaborations with Mission Innovation Countries.
The Minister announced about expanding India’s collaboration with UK by setting up a Joint Virtual Clean Energy Centre to address the challenges in solar energy and launching a new Research Track on Smart Energy Grids and Energy Storage under the Indo-US Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Research (PACE-R).
Harsh Vardhan also launched the Global Cooling Challenge at CEM7.
Showcasing India’s achievements in the field of Clean Energy, the Minister informed the CEM members that India has successfully implemented the world’s largest LED lighting programme. This programme has seen India lead the way by driving 12% of global LED demand at present, up from 0.1% a couple of years ago.