Context

 After South Africa, Indonesia, and Vietnam, India is considered the next candidate for a JET-Partnership. India’s G-20 presidency could potentially be an opportune moment to forge a deal.

Just Energy Transition Partnership (JET-P) is emerging as the key mechanism for multilateral financing by developed countries to support an energy transition in developing countries.

About

• The partnership has taken on particular significance following the insertion of the phrase ‘phase-down’of coal in the Glasgow Pact.
• However, India must develop a coherent domestic just energy transition (JET) strategyin order to negotiate a financing deal that addresses its unique set of socio-economic challenges.

Energy transitions and developing countries:

• Energy transitions could give rise to intra-generational, intergenerational, and spatial equity concerns.
• Transitions affect near-term fossil-dependent jobs, disrupt forms of future energy access, shrink state’s capacity to spend on welfare programmes, and thus exacerbate existing economic inequities between coal and other regions.
• Existing JET-P deals pay limited attention to intra-generational inequity, such as job losses resulting from a coal phase-down.
• However, among the three JET-P dealssigned so far, only South Africa’s deal mentions a ‘just’ component — funding reskilling and alternative employment opportunities in the coal mining regions to be financed as part of the initial $8.5 billion mobilisation.

The other two JET-Ps (Indonesia and Vietnam) are focused on mitigation finance for sector-specific transitions.

India and energy transition:

• India’s transition requires significant simultaneous growth in energy demand.
• The Central Electricity Authority projects a near doubling of electricity demand by 2030.
• A country that is likely to multiply its energy demand requires adequate supply from a diverse mix of sources. India cannot afford to put its development on hold while decarbonising.

India’s commitments:

• India has signalled a commitment to clean energy with ambitious targets like 500GW of non-fossil, including 450 GW renewable energy (RE) capacity addition and 43% RE purchase obligation by 2030.
• These targets are supported through complementary policy and legislative mandates (Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act), missions (National Green Hydrogen Mission), fiscal incentives (production-linked incentives) and market mechanisms (upcoming national carbon market).
• These interventions show India’s serious efforts at energy transition, but additional supplementary measures are needed for a coherent JET strategy.