Special Report No. 4
Editors: Caroline Arkalji, Jeffrey Bean, and Medha Prasanna
Contributors: Abigail Doerr, Amol Kapoor, Bhagyashri Kulkarni, Dhruva Jaishankar, Jonika Rathi, Karan Sinha, Lindsay Maizland, Medha Prasanna, Meenakshi Venkatraman, Miaoru Guan, Mridu Jhangiani, Pankaj Mahalle, Patrick Soltis, Paul Gordon, Perrin Krisko, Sabareesh Suresh, Tanya Kak, Vandita Sariya, Vanshica Kant, and Vedant Patil
PrefacE
By Medha Prasanna and Dhruva Jaishankar
Advancing U.S.-India Climate and Energy Cooperation
The United States and India are the second- and third-largest emitters of greenhouse gases respectively. Cooperation between them will be vital to achieving an energy transition to cleaner and greener sources of energy, objectives that would help not just with emissions, but also energy security and availability, domestic employment, and competition in critical and emerging technologies. Both countries have made tremendous strides, but much more will need to be done. India will need a five-fold increase in its renewable energy capacity of 200 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 to achieve its own stated targets, while the United States will need to triple its 388 GW capacity over the same period.
In 2024, the Observer Research Foundation America (ORF America) convened a cohort of ten emerging climate leaders from the United States and India, representing government, business, academia, think tanks, civil society, and the media. This group participated in a nine-month-long program and a study trip to New Delhi, India, with the objectives of raising awareness about climate challenges in each other’s countries, developing joint solutions, and elevating diverse voices. This volume of short working papers is a product of their collaboration and attempts to develop ideas around climate collaboration and communication for the United States and India.
Spanning nine chapters on a wide range of topics that include capacity building, green hydrogen, urban planning, methane mitigation, media coverage of climate change, electric tractors, rooftop solar power, critical mineral supply chains, digital public infrastructure (DPI), and climate and health, each chapter identifies and outlines recommendations for U.S.-India cooperation.
Public Opinion: The first two chapters take on a macro approach, with the first examining how public opinion is shaped by media coverage of climate change, the gaps it faces in both countries, and recommendations that would improve climate journalism.
Capacity Building: In a similar vein, Chapter 2 addresses the human factor in scaling up national efforts to achieve net zero goals, including recommendations to develop, attract, and cultivate human and digital resources to equip each level with the capacity essential for a successful green transition.
Methane Emissions: Chapter 3 through Chapter 7 look at the scalability of clean energy technologies, exploring what each country has to offer to make renewable energy accessible at the grassroots level. Chapter 3 addresses the lack of scalable, low-cost energy solutions in agriculture, impeding the mitigation of methane emissions.
Rooftop Solar: Chapter 4 addresses why India missed its 2022 target for rooftop solar panel deployment and recommends financing solutions for distributed rooftop solar power in both the United States and India.
Green Hydrogen: The US India Hydrogen Task Force, launched in 2021, was quickly followed by the National Green Hydrogen Mission in India, and the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act in the United States. Each will accelerate industrial growth, but there will also be challenges. Chapter 5 surveys the role of the private sector and corresponding government policies that will support the nascent hydrogen industry as it matures.
Electric Tractors: Chapter 6 looks deeply into the practical implications of mechanization and the electrification of India’s agriculture through electric tractors. It outlines the prospects of leveraging India’s manufacturing expertise to lead in electric tractor production through cooperation with the United States.
Critical Minerals and DPI: To ensure the availability of key inputs and supporting infrastructure for the implementation of clean technologies, Chapter 7 focuses on two areas of U.S.-India climate cooperation: critical minerals and DPI.
Urban Planning: The final two chapters peel back the complexity of decarbonizing two of the largest growing energy consumers: cities and the health sector. Two-thirds of the world’s population will reside in cities by 2050, and urban agglomerations will create a significant demand for housing, industries, and infrastructure, further increasing energy demand. Chapter 8 borrows lessons from both the United States and India for building better buildings by cooperatively formulating building codes.
Climate and Health: Climate change has also affected public health, costing over $1.5 trillion over thirty years. In parallel, the health sector accounts for over 5 percent of global emissions. The last chapter sounds the alarms on twin emergencies presented by the health sector, highlighting the lack of prioritization of climate and health in U.S.-India bilateral initiatives. It recommends bottom-up and top-down opportunities for collaboration on low-carbon health for the United States, India, and the world.
The authors thank NITI Aayog, the Indian Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, The Energy and Resources Institute, the Clean Energy International Incubation Centre, the US-India Chamber of Commerce, and the Observer Research Foundation for their inputs and participation in this volume. This publication reflects the personal research, analysis, and views of the individual authors, and does not necessarily represent the position of their employers, ORF America, its affiliates, or its partners.
Note: Citations and references can be found in the PDF version of the full report here.