Cooperation on renewables can increase India’s energy sovereignty, Scholz says at state visit

Closer cooperation with Germany on renewable power and other energy transition technologies could help India increase its energy sovereignty, chancellor Olaf Scholz has said on a state visit to the South Asian country. “This is something that we have an interest in and which will directly benefit India’s development, strength and sovereignty,” Scholz said at a press conference in New Delhi, adding that Germany’s “great technological expertise” in this area could make a contribution to India’s existing renewable power expansion programmes. Germany has a “great interest” in cooperating on wind power, solar power, biomass, grid modernisation and electrification of India’s railroad network, the chancellor said. Assisting countries in the “global South” in Asia, Africa and South America in covering their energy demand amid rising raw resource prices is something Germany must understand as its own interest, according to Scholz. At the same time, “we must not think that our own problems are also the problems of the rest of the world,” he added with a view to India’s intensified use of Russian fossil fuels since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

The chancellor praised India’s role in international settings, such as the G20 club of influential economies, adding that the two governments would also cooperate on furthering Scholz’s idea of a “climate club” of countries seeking to set common rules for intensified climate action. India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, said the two governments had agreed to continue and intensify sustainable development partnerships that were launched during his state visit to Germany in the previous year, including on renewable power, green hydrogen and biofuels.