India-UK Vision 2035: A 'Critical Minerals Guild', collaboration on nuclear power, carbon capture and climate finance

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Apart from signing the landmark Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between India and the United Kingdom (UK), Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart Keir Starmer also endorsed an "India-UK Vision 2035" for future collaboration and innovation on July 24.

The vision document talks of establishing an India-UK Critical Mineral Guild to transform financing standards and innovation. The British government said the move is aimed at securing resilient and sustainable critical mineral supply chains to power the 'fourth industrial revolution'.  "Together, the two sides will prioritise processing, R&D (research and development), recycling, managing risk to supply chains, market development etc. and will champion circular economy principles and advance traceability," it said.

Amid stringent curbs by China, India is collaborating with other countries on critical minerals to ensure a secure and reliable supply chain for its growing needs in sectors like renewable energy, electric vehicles, and advanced technologies. In this regard, India has agreements with eight countries, while talks are on with two more nations.

Also read: India-UK trade deal to boost Indian cleantech exports amid renewable energy slump in US.

On climate and clean energy, the UK said it will mobilise timely, adequate and affordable finance for climate action in India. "We will collaborate on reforming global financial systems towards better, bigger and more effective multilateral development banks (MDBs) to enable scaling up of affordable finance for climate action by developing countries," the British government said in a statement.

The Indian government said collaboration between the two nations across clean transport, energy, life sciences, artificial intelligence (AI), renewables, hydrogen, energy storage, batteries, and carbon capture will accelerate scalable innovations for green growth. "The two nations will jointly support entrepreneurs through the flagship Net Zero Innovation Partnership to develop deep tech solutions to address climate change and to build new markets for growth," read a statement by the Indian government.

To drive the energy security and clean energy goals, the two countries have decided to collaborate on energy storage and grid transformation. A taskforce between the UK’s Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM) and India’s Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) will also be set up and another one on offshore wind. Development of the long-awaited Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) to take low carbon pathways for industries will also be done.

Also read: India's marine export, processed food among top gainers in UK trade deal as tariff drops to zero.

On nuclear energy, India and the UK have decided to collaborate on nuclear security, waste management and decommissioning of old nuclear power plants. The countries will also engage on next generation nuclear technologies such as small modular reactors under an enhanced India-UK Nuclear Cooperation Agreement.

"Throughout, UK-India energy collaboration will seize opportunities in the private and public sectors and support the creation of robust supply chains," the Indian government said.

To be sure, the India-UK Vision 2035 also states that the two nations would collaborate on other sectors such as defence, education, space, telecommunication, biotechnology, semiconductors, quantum, advanced materials, and cyber security.