Objective

By fostering exchanges and collaboration among national and sub-national administrations, business communities, academia and civil society stakeholders, the SPIPA programme has encouraged and assisted EU and non-European major economies in progressing toward the Paris Agreement goals, harnessing international economic and political relations to move quicker collectively towards full implementation.

Context

Climate change is a global threat that requires a decisive and confident response from all communities, particularly from major economies that represent roughly 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The 2016 EU–India Summit adopted a Joint Declaration establishing an EU–India Clean Energy and Climate Partnership. The bilateral Summit in Delhi on 6 October 2017 sent a clear commitment of the European Union (EU) and India to the implementation of the Paris Agreement and delivered a new joint statement further strengthening the bilateral cooperation on clean energy and climate change. Simultaneously, the EU set up the Strategic Partnerships for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement (SPIPA) programme which builds on existing European climate policy dialogues and cooperation with 15 major emitters outside Europe, including India. The programme encourages and assists non-European major economies in making their best efforts towards the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Approach including the target group

To further strengthen the India-EU cooperation on climate change the “Strategic Partnership for the Implementation of Paris Agreement (SPIPA)” project is conceptualised with activities supporting priority focus areas of the Government of India. The project contributes to the EU's climate diplomacy efforts and cooperation between the EU and non-European major economies to promote the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

The overall objective of the SPIPA project is to support policy dialogue between the EU and India, enhance cooperation between India, the European Union, EU Member States, and key stakeholders across three mutually agreed key focus areas.

• Networking, capacity building and knowledge management.
• Adaptation.
• Mitigation.

Highlight Activities

• The SPIPA kick-off event was organised as part of the Renewable Energy Expo in 2018.
• The Integrated Assessment Modelling Consortium (IAMC) Annual Meeting in Seville, Spain was hosted by the Joint Research Centre, EU, and low carbon modelling experts from India participated in this meeting to share experiences.
• The SPIPA project India organised a workshop on low carbon modelling related issues.
• Youth Climate Conclave launch event was organised by the EU, TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) and CEEW (Council on Energy, Environment and Water) from 29-31 January 2020 as part of this project. It included different activities such as a photography contest and blog competition for youth. Around 85 students participated in awareness building sessions and discussed challenges, possible solutions to climate change.
• The project organised the ‘Climate Change: Action for Tropical Coastal Cities Conference’ on 27th-28th February 2020.
• The project organised India-EU Experience sharing on Adaptation Planning and Implementation webinar on 30th June 2020.
• The project organised a two-day online workshop for exchange of experiences and knowledge on modelling related issues on 1st-2nd July 2021.
• The project organised a prioritisation workshop for mitigation and adaptation activities as part of the SAPCC revision process in the state of Chhattisgarh on 25th February 2021.
• The inception workshop for revision of the SAPCC of Haryana was organised on 11th August 2021.
• Bihar Climate Change Learning Lab was inaugurated on 17th July 2022.