Dear Readers,

Warm greetings from the Centre for Science and Environment! We are delighted to share the latest edition of our Energy Transitions newsletter, brought to you by CSE's Renewable Energy team.

Despite significant amounts of development funds going into Africa in the last 30 odd years, energy poverty remains a persistent thorn in the continent’s side. More than 60% of Africa’s population still faces acute energy poverty, with some 30 sub-Saharan countries having an average per capita electricity consumption of only 110 kWh per year. Compare this to the global average of over 3100 kWh per capita per year or even that of India, at around 1255 kWh per capita per year. There is a detailed write up about this issue which you can find in the CSE Writes section.

On the policy front, the Indian Parliament passed an Amendment to its Critical Minerals Act earlier this month which now encourages and invites greater private sector investments into mining & exploration of deep-seated minerals that are critical to India’s energy security in the future – minerals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite. You can read more on this in the News section below.

Please also go through our upcoming Learning Opportunities section. There is an excellent webinar this Friday that will teach school students simple ways to save energy in their homes. There is also a webinar next week that delves into various aspects of Fermented Organic Manures (FOM). In June, the Government had introduced a Market Development Assistance scheme for organic fertilisers that are by-products of biogas plants under the GOBARdhan scheme. This webinar hopes to unlock the true potential of FOM, which remains hidden from both farmers and CBG plant operators due to a lack of awareness. We hope our resources will help you understand a bit more about the energy sector in India. We also welcome your feedback – please feel free to comment or point out a news tip we might have missed.

The Govt. Of India’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) announcing the passing of the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023 in both houses of the Parliament earlier this month. The amendment introduces major reforms in the mining sector, with a focus on critical & deep-seated minerals that will be crucial for India’s energy security & its renewable energy sector in the future. The Amendment now gives the Central Govt. exclusive rights to auction mining rights of critical minerals since the Act was first introduced in 1957, with State Govts. getting statutory payments from them.