Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar chairs “Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Energy”

Union Minister of State for Power and Heavy Industries,Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar, today chaired the “Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Energy” under the Chairship of India. The Energy Ministers of BRICS Countries and delegates attended the virtual meeting.During the Meeting, BRICS Energy Report 2021, BRICS Energy Technology Report 2021 and BRICS Energy Research Directory 2021 were launched virtually by Shri Gurjar, in the presence of the Energy Ministers of BRICS Countries. This was the 6^th meeting of BRICS Energy Ministers and a joint communique was adopted.

Addressing the meet, Shri Gurjar emphasised upon the need of promoting energy efficiency and renewables to combat adverse effect of climate change. He also welcomed the efforts made by Energy professionals from Brazil, India, China South Africa and Russia in ensuring regular power supply despite difficult circumstances due to Covid 19 conditions. During the Summit,India also reiterated focus on one sun, one world and one grid as the initiative proposed by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Shri Gurjar underlined that India is committed to improving the quality of life of its citizens by ensuring adequacy of electricity availability. He said, “The ‘Power for All’ by 2022 program is a major step in this direction. We have achieved universal access. We added 28 million consumers in just about 18 months, which was the fastest expansion access anywhere in the world, and much of it is due to the fact that we went in for renewables in a major way.”

The Ministers from other BRICS countries, Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa also highlighted their targets and achievements in the field of energy transition and climate change. This Energy Ministers’ Summit of BRICS countries was the concluding event as part of the energy dialogue between member countries, since April 2021. Various events like hydrogen webinar, building energy efficiency and battery storage were conducted and saw participation of large number of experts from these countries.

Energy Ministers recognized the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the energy sector. It was noted that electricity security and resilient energy systems are more indispensable than ever for providing uninterrupted supply of energy. They commended the contribution made by energy professionals in BRICS Countries and efforts taken by international communities to cope with the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the energy sector.