Focus on Clean and Green Technologies for India-EU Trade and Technology Council

At the second meeting of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) held in New Delhi today, the two sides reiterated their commitments for clean and green technologies.

India and the European Union (EU) have set the target of achieving net zero emissions by 2070 and 2050, respectively and achieving these targets will require significant investment in new clean technologies and standards. 

Established in April 2022, the India-EU Trade and Technology Council is a key bilateral platform to address challenges at the confluence of trade, trusted technology and security between the two regions. The first meeting of the India-EU TTC was held in Brussels on 16 May 2023.

Subsequently on 24 November 2023, a stock-taking meeting in virtual mode reviewed the progress made by the three TTC working groups – “Strategic Technologies, Digital Governance, and Digital Connectivity”, “Trade, Investment and Resilient Value Chains”, and “Clean and Green Technologies”. 

With regards to Clean and Green Technologies working group, both sides agreed on joint research cooperation through exceptional coordinated calls on recycling of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), marine plastic litter, and waste-to-hydrogen.

The estimated total joint budget will be about EUR 60 million from the Horizon Europe programme and matching Indian contributions.

On recycling batteries for EVs, the focus will be on battery circularity through different kinds of flexible/low cost/easy to recycle batteries.

In marine plastic litter, the focus will be on developing technologies for detection, measurement and analysis of aquatic litter and for mitigation of the cumulative impact of pollution on the marine environment.

On waste-to-hydrogen, the focus will be on developing technologies with greater efficiency to produce hydrogen from biogenic wastes.

The two sides recalled the importance of the substantive exchanges between experts in the identified areas of cooperation as the basis for future action.

Indian experts have participated in a training and mutual learning exercise on EV interoperability and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) E-Mobility Lab in Ispra, Italy in January 2024.

Furthermore, a joint hybrid workshop on EV Charging Technologies (Standardisation and Testing) was organised at the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune, India and online, to deepen the EU-Indian dialogue and the industry’s engagement in charging infrastructure standardisation processes with India.

The two sides also concluded a Matchmaking Event to identify, support and organise exchanges between Indian and EU startups in technology for recycling of batteries for EVs. Experts also jointly discussed assessment and monitoring tools for marine plastic litter.

Finally, an “Ideathon” fostering EU-India collaboration to co-create practical solutions involving all stakeholders for addressing marine plastic pollution effectively is in preparation.

Both sides agreed to explore cooperation on harmonising standards for EV charging infrastructure, including cooperative, pre-normative research for harmonised testing solutions and knowledge exchange in the domain of e-mobility.

They also agreed to explore how to enhance collaboration in the field of hydrogen-related safety standards, the science of standards as well as the market uptake of wastewater treatment technologies as outcomes of previous jointly conducted research projects.