Australia and India are working together to ensure a clean and sustainable environment for future generations as part of a comprehensive strategic partnership initiative between the two countries, Australian Consul General for South India Sarah Kirlew said on Thursday.
The bilateral relationship between the two countries is at an all-time high, Sarah Kirlew said here while highlighting the importance of collaboration between India and Australia at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-Madras) Energy Consortium – Energy Summit 2022 to power the global transformation to a low-carbon future.
Over 400 industry leaders, faculty, researchers, and students from academia besides policymakers and government officials are taking part in the two-day summit, which commenced at IIT-Madras Research Park today.
“As part of our comprehensive strategic partnership, our governments and leaders are working together to ensure a clean and sustainable environment for future generations. Australian Parliament has recently passed the Climate Change Act which demonstrated Australia’s commitment to a stable investment environment for renewable energy and zero emissions technology investment,” Kirlew said.
“Australia is now one of 22 countries to enshrine our emissions reduction target into law. Australia’s increased target is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. I am confident that the Australia-India Centre for Energy being inaugurated today will play a pivotal role in the transition efforts made by India and Australia, supporting the two nations with cutting-edge research and capacity-building outputs as we increase the use of new and renewable energy technologies,” she said.
An ‘Australia – India Centre for Energy’ (AICE), being spearheaded by IIT-Madras jointly with other Indian and Australian premier institutions, was launched during this summit. It would work towards achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 7, which seeks to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” and also specifically in strategic areas such as critical minerals, clean technology, education and innovation.
Sarah Kirlew said, “IIT-Madras has been one of the strongest educational partners for Australian Universities with over 19 MoUs including joint PhD programs.” Monica Kennedy, senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, Australian Trade and Investment Commission, highlighted the opportunity for collaboration between Indian and Australian education and research institutions to work towards shared ambitions for a green future.
Addressing the inaugural session of the Energy Summit 2022, Monica Kennedy said like India, Australia has embarked on an ambitious agenda for change.
“Our education and research institutions are taking a lead. The technologies we develop must be accompanied by social change – and education provides a significant lever. India-Australia research and development relationships provide a meeting of our esteemed institutions in this agenda, and their cooperation underpins opportunity to deliver real change beneficial to us all,” Kennedy said.
Prof Raghunathan Rengaswamy, Dean (Global Engagement), IIT Madras, said India has set itself an ambitious set of climate-related goals called ‘Panchamrit’ and attaining these goals would require close collaborations between universities, industries and governments.
Prof Satyanarayanan Seshadri, faculty in-charge, Energy Consortium, said, “We certainly believe that the technology solutions deployed at scale in India will become the solutions for the world. At the Energy Consortium, we have embarked on this journey to build a platform to engage with global industries, institutions and governments to accelerate the transformation to a low carbon future.” The summit provides a platform for thought for leaders and experts from the industry, academia and government to collaborate on energy transition towards a low-carbon future. It is also aimed at boosting global engagement with the presence of domain experts from North Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
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