On July 2, 2020, a joint working group meeting of the Sustainable Growth (SG) Pillar was co-chaired by NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).The meeting on SG Pillar will boost the India–US Strategic Energy Partnership. The SG pillar entails energy data management, energy modelling and collaboration on low carbon technologies as three key activities.
- During the meet, an India Energy Modeling Forum (IEMF) was launched which will provide a platform to examine important energy and environmental related issues, and facilitate exchange of ideas.
- Notably, in the initial stage, NITI Aayog will coordinate the activities of the forum and finalize its governing structure. The forum would include knowledge partners, data agencies and concerned government ministries.
About Forum:
In March 2019, The NITI Aayog USAID organized the first workshop on development of the IEMF. The aim of the Forum is to improve cooperation and coordination between modeling teams, the Government of India, knowledge partners and think-tanks, build capacity of Indian institutions, and identify issues for joint modeling activities and future areas of research.
- Reason behind the initiation of IEMF: There exist energy modelling forums in different parts of the World like Energy Modelling Forum (EMF) in USA was established in 1976 at Stanford University to connect leading modelling experts and decision makers from government, industry, universities, and other research organizations. In India, there was no formalized and systematic process of having a modeling forum. That is why IEMF has been created.
About United States Agency for International Development (USAID):
Headquarter– Washington, D.C., United States (US)
Acting Administrator– John Barsa
About NITI Aayog:
Chairman– Narendra Modi
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)– Amitabh Kant
Headquarter– New Delhi
