INTERNATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY (IRENA)

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Context:

The Union Cabinet was apprised of a Strategic Partnership Agreement signed between the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The Agreement was signed in January 2022.

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The aim of the Agreement is to drive ambition, leadership and knowledge on green energy transitions based on renewable energy in India.
The Agreement will help India’s energy transition efforts and will also help the world in combating climate change.
The areas of cooperation as envisaged in the Strategic Partnership Agreement will support India in achieving its ambitious target of 500 GW of installed non-fossil fuel electricity capacity by 2030. This in-turn will promote Atmanirbhar Bharat.
The salient features of the Agreement include enhanced cooperation in the following areas:

Facilitating knowledge sharing from India on scaling-up renewable energy and clean energy technologies
Supporting India’s efforts on long term energy planning

Moving towards cost-effective decarbonisation through catalysing development and deployment of green hydrogen.

Thus, the Strategic Partnership Agreement will help India’s energy transition efforts and will also help the world in combating climate change.

About IRENA:

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is an intergovernmental organisation that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future, and serves as the principal platform for international cooperation, a centre of excellence, and a repository of policy, technology, resource and financial knowledge on renewable energy.
IRENA promotes the widespread adoption and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy, including bioenergy, geothermal, hydropower, ocean, solar and wind energy in the pursuit of sustainable development, energy access, energy security and low-carbon economic growth and prosperity.
In line with these aims, IRENA provides a wide range of products and services, including:
Annual reviews of renewable energy employment;
Renewable energy capacity statistics;
Renewable energy cost studies;
Renewables Readiness Assessments, conducted in partnership with governments and regional organisations, to help boost renewable energy development on a country by country basis;
The Global Atlas, which maps resource potential by source and by location;

Renewable energy benefits studies;

REmap, a roadmap to double renewable energy use worldwide by 2030;

Renewable energy technology briefs;

Facilitation of regional renewable energy planning;

Renewable energy project development tools like the Project Navigator, the Sustainable Energy Marketplace and the IRENA/ADFD Project Facility.

With more than 180 countries actively engaged, IRENA promotes renewable resources and technologies as the key to a sustainable future and helps countries achieve their renewable energy potential.
The proposal for an international agency dedicated to renewable energy was made in 1981 at the United Nations Conference on New and Renewable Sources of Energy, held in Nairobi, Kenya.
As global interest in renewable energy steadily increased, world leaders convened in several settings to focus on renewable energy policies, financing and technology. Key meetings included the World Summit for Sustainable Development 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa, the annual G-8 Gleneagles Dialogue, the 2005 Beijing International Renewable Energy Conference, and the 2004 Bonn International Renewable Energy Conference.
The Bonn conference’s concluding resolution included support for the establishment of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), supported by the International Parliamentary Forum on Renewable Energies. It would take just a few years more for the idea to become reality.