G20 and Env

G20 and Env

Subject : International Relations

Context:

The G20 summit to be held in September 2023, under India’s presidency, is expected to pass a marquee declaration to ensure energy and supply chain security.

Details:

• India has been championing a global electricity grid plan—One Sun One World One Grid.
• Energy Transition Working Group (ETWG) has been set up

Concept:

G20’s environmental initiatives-The G20 recognises the importance of collective action in tackling environmental challenges and climate change while promoting transitions towards more flexible, transparent and cleaner energy systems.

• Climate Sustainability Working Group (CSWG)
  • In the G20 framework, the Energy Sustainability Working Group (ESWG) was established in 2013 to cover all energy-related issues.
  •  In 2017, considering that energy policy and climate change issues are closely linked to each other, the Climate Sustainability Working Group (CSWG) was newly established under the Sustainability Working Group (SWG).
  • In 2018, under the Argentine presidency, CSWG was separated from ESWG and became one of the Working Groups in the Sherpa process.
• Global Initiative on Reducing Land Degradation and Enhancing Conservation of Terrestrial Habitats
  • In November 2020, at the Riyadh (Virtual) Summit of the G20 leaders, the G20 launched the Global Initiative on Reducing Land Degradation and Enhancing Conservation of Terrestrial Habitats.
  • The ambition of this Global Initiative is to prevent, halt and reverse land degradation and reduce degraded land by 50 per cent by 2040.
  • The initiative will be implemented through the Initiative Coordination Office under oversight of the UNCCD.

The One Sun One World One Grid Declaration (OSOWOG)

• It was jointly released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the COP26 Climate Meet in Glasgow.
  • In the first assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), in October 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi floated the idea of the OSOWOG initiative.
  • The UK and India decided to merge the UK’s Green Grids Initiative (GGI) and ISA’s OSOWOG into GGI-OSOWOG as part of the UK-India Virtual Summit
• Its objective is to aid in developing a worldwide grid through which clean energy can be transmitted anywhere, anytime (use power at night in one part of the world from solar energy generated on the other side of the world where it is day time).
•  It also aims to help in reducing storage needs and enhancing the viability of solar projects. Its ultimate goal is to reduce carbon footprints and energy costs.
• The ISA and the World Bank are also helping in executing the project.

How will it be implemented?–OSOWOG is divided into three main phases.

• In the first phase, the Indian grid would be connected to the grids of Middle East, South Asia and South-East Asia to develop a common grid. This grid would then be used to share solar energy as per need, in addition to other renewable energy sources.
• The second phase would connect the functional first phase to the pool of renewable resources in Africa.

The third phase would look at achieving true global interconnection. The idea will be to integrate as many countries as possible to create a single power grid of renewable energy. This can then be accessed by all countries.