ORF America’s Energy and Climate Program hosted a two-day workshop of experts from U.S. government, academia, civil society, think tanks and the private sector to discuss and better understand near-term (2024-2025), actionable opportunities for the United States to cooperate with India. The focus of the event was to articulate U.S. priorities in climate and energy for its relationship with India. A counterpart to this workshop held in New Delhi, India, in February 2024, gathered Indian energy and climate experts to brainstorm ideas of cooperation between the two countries. Outcomes from the New Delhi convening were presented at this workshop in Washington.
Energy and climate cooperation between the United States and India have spanned nearly two decades, and a successful state visit from India to the United States in June 2023 has encouraged greater cooperation in the next several years. The visit outlined several converging priorities for both countries with announcements on electric mobility, green hydrogen, critical minerals, and a joint finance and technology platform for clean energy.
With elections in both countries, the upcoming year is crucial in both countries to expand upon the high-level strategic convergences from the state visit. The preceding two years have shown that each country has started initiatives on their own based on respective interests, and the state visit has framed the beginnings of how these initiatives may overlap, complement, or synergize each other, especially given convergences between the United States and India in areas other than energy and climate.
The workshop aimed to offer an agenda for 2024-2025, build upon the state visit’s outcomes, and developed recommendations to further cooperation between the two countries. Focused sessions occurred on the following topics: (1) climate finance; (2) clean and electric mobility; (3) critical minerals and diversifying clean energy manufacturing; and (4) green hydrogen, green steel, and fertilizer.
Speakers:
Keynote: Sarah Ladislaw, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Climate and Energy, National Security Council, The White House
Keynote: Adam Wang-Levine, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Climate, U.S. Department of Treasury
Vinay Chawla, Senior Advisor, Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, The White House
Kaushik Deb, Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University
Rick Duke, Deputy Special Envoy for Climate, U.S. Department of State
Heather Evans, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
Robin Gaster, Research Director, Center for Clean Energy Innovation, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Neelima Jain, Director of States Initiative, India Energy & Climate Center, UC Berkeley
Dhruva Jaishankar, Executive Director, ORF America
Anjali Kaur, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia, U.S. Agency for International Development
Jake Levine, Chief Climate Officer, U.S. Development Finance Corporation
Geoffrey Pyatt, Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources, U.S. Department of State
Aditya Ramji, Director, India ZEV Research Center, UC Davis
Sunita Satyapal, Director of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, U.S. Department of Energy
Moderator: Shayak Sengupta, Fellow in Energy & Climate, ORF America
