Indian MPs Partner With Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago

New Delhi, India - With the goal of accelerating pragmatic solutions for India’s diverse energy challenges, Indian MPs - through the Climate Parliament - began a partnership with the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago’s India office (EPIC-India) on the 21st of February in New Delhi. Through the collaboration, the two organisations will work together in the areas of electricity sector reform, energy and environment policy analysis and capacity building. The MoU signing ceremony in New Delhi was attended by Dr Sanjay Jaiswal, Member of Parliament from Paschim Champaran in Bihar and Mr Vincent Pale, Member of Parliament from Shillong in Meghalaya.

Sharing his thoughts, MP Dr Jaiswal said, "I am hopeful that this partnership will open new avenues for addressing energy access and several opportunities for implementing low carbon technologies. All of legislators of Climate Parliament network have a shared vision, which is to see that every citizen of our region has access to clean, reliable and affordable energy."

MP Mr Pale added, "Both EPIC- India and Climate Parliament would work together to develop capacity building modules for legislators in the field of energy and environment. This would help the country in achieving its sustainable development goals."

Of the partnership, EPIC Director Michael Greenstone said, “We are excited to be entering into this innovative partnership with India’s policymakers as they take on the dual challenges of ensuring the availability of reliable and inexpensive energy to grow their economy while protecting their citizens from pollution.” Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Professor in Economics, the College and the Harris School at the University of Chicago, added, “We look forward to collaborating to answer the specific questions and challenges they face every day.” Mukul Sharma, South Asia Director of Climate Parliament, said, “This collaboration is a unique initiative with an objective to address the challenges of climate change and energy access at the local level with various tools of implementing technologies, cutting-edge research and policy interventions. In India, Climate Parliament has established a cross-party network of more than 50 legislators, who are actively involved in increasing the share of renewables through policy change as well as by implementing clean energy in local level plans.” Mr Sharma added, “The implementation of clean and low-carbon technologies in local areas, when replicated in 795 constituencies, would push India towards a low-carbon pathway.” As a part of the project, knowledge exchange visits and joint workshops on energy issues will also be conducted, primarily to facilitate the capacity building of the policymakers and other experts.