High energy costs should not deter India from energy transition: US' Granholm

The challenges of India's current high energy costs and supply shortages as it recovers from the pandemic should not deter it from moving toward cleaner fuels, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Oct. 20 at the India Energy Forum by CERAWeek.

"Growing energy demand is a positive signal of India's economic recovery, but this growing demand is outpacing supply particularly for coal and gas, and it's creating difficult challenges," Granholm said.

"It's an important reminder that we have to keep focused on energy security and resiliency, even as we work to take great strides to decarbonization."

Granholm said both the US and India have had "a year full of climate-charged, super weather disasters" including deadly storms, floods and heat waves.

"The fact is these disasters are going to grow more common and more destructive until we address unabated carbon emissions," she said.

The Biden administration heads to the UN Climate Change Conference in a little over a week, aiming to press world leaders to adopt stronger decarbonization policies. And yet the White House is still working in Washington to advance its own domestic agenda through a narrowly divided Congress.

India is the world's No. 3 oil consumer, behind the US and China. It has become a top importer of US oil and LNG in recent years.

India's imports of US crude oil hit a record high of 560,000 b/d in December 2020, and its US LNG imports hit a record high of 28.3 Bcf in May 2021, according to Energy Information Administration data.