India is world’s inspiration on clean energy transition, says Ed Miliband

The clean energy transition is unstoppable now because of the economic benefits it offers, Ed Miliband, the United Kingdom’s secretary of state for energy and climate change said on Tuesday. The vast majority of countries led by India see energy transition to be in self-interest and hence Miliband believes despite the sudden disruption of US withdrawing from Paris Agreement and rolling back climate policies, climate crisis will be addressed by the rest. In an interview with HT, Miliband, who was in Delhi for the India Energy Week, discussed why India has strengthened his confidence in energy transition. Edited excerpts:

What brings you to India, and how are India and the UK planning to collaborate?

I am inspired by the vision of the government when it comes to renewable energy, by the delivery of the government when it comes to more than 200 GW of renewables and solar for a million people and also by the narrative of the government. In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s words, which G20 sherpa Amitabh Kant told us, net zero is actually net positive. India plans to industrialise in a clean energy way. This is such an important message to the world, to be honest, about why this clean energy transition is in all of our interest.

The UK is among the few countries to submit an ambitious nationally determined contribution for 2035 period and your PM, Keir Starmer, in a strong statement at COP29 said that there is no national security without climate security. How is UK planning to deliver on these ambitious goals?

What really strikes is the common narrative that the UK and India have about energy security, jobs and growth, and tackling the climate crisis. We will be setting out a carbon budget delivery plan in the next few months. It’s about acting on all sectors, across industry, transport, buildings residential and commercial and agriculture. We are doing this because this is the right thing to do for the generations of tomorrow but also for generations of today. I get exactly the same message from the government in India.

Will UK take a leadership role in climate talks? Now that there is a vaccum with US withdrawing from Paris, what is the future of climate negotiations?

When we came to power in July 2024, we committed to play a leadership role. The PM went to COP and set out a very ambitious NDC because we wanted to set an ambition. Because that was in the country’s interest. We are 1% of global emissions and we need to do the right thing at home and we want to work with others. We want all countries to act because that is the best guarantee for the safety and security of British people going forward. I am a believer in multilateralism. Bilateral and multilateral relations will help us confront and meet challenges that we face like climate change.

But, developing countries are not happy with the outcome on climate finance at COP29. How will the transition be financed?

The needs of developing countries for mitigation and adaptation are very high. I think it is important that we got an outcome from COP29. I acknowledge the concerns of developing countries very much. The work we need to do now is to turn that $300 billion and the $1.3 trillion roadmap into reality. One of the most consistent messages that I have heard here is that there is big emphasis on private finance. There is overwhelming message is very confident that private finance will be mobilised. Because this is in financial interest.

How will India and the UK partner on energy transition?

We are very much a partnership of equals and we are trying to learn from each other. I am very struck by the solar rooftop programme. There are lessons in it for UK. Government colleagues here want to learn about the offshore wind success in UK. We talked about grids and carbon capture and storage. The story of solar in India and the massive cuts in costs of solar from ₹25 to ₹3 in 10 years. This is absolutely dramatic reduction.

Climate crisis is becoming a word that is trolled and ridiculed in some parts of the world today. How do you plan to deal with that?

I really feel confident about our argument. India has strengthened our confidence. India has an ambition of becoming a developed country by 2047 and it’s embracing the clean energy transition. That is the message to the world.