NAYGN at Clean Energy Ministerial 14

What is CEM?

The Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) is a high-level global forum to promote policies and programmes that advance clean energy technology, to share lessons learned and best practices, and to encourage the transition to a global clean energy economy. Initiatives are based on areas of common interest among participating governments and other stakeholders. 

The CEM brings together a community of the world’s largest and leading countries, companies and international experts to achieve one mission –accelerate clean energy transitions. You can learn more about CEM here.

What is MI?

Mission Innovation is a global initiative catalyzing a decade of action and investment in research, development, and demonstration to make clean energy affordable, attractive and accessible for all. This will accelerate progress towards the Paris Agreement goals and pathways to net zero.

CEM14-MI-8

The 14th Clean Energy Ministerial and 8th Mission Innovation meeting (CEM14/MI-8) took place in Goa, India July 19-22, 2023 and it was scheduled on the margins of the G20 Energy Transitions Ministerial Meeting (ETMM).

The theme for CEM this year was “Advancing Clean Energy Together”.

From NAYGN, Matthew Mairinger (NAYGN President), Veeshesh Sunassy (NAYGN Durham chapter President), and Siddharth Yadav (NAYGN Duke Energy chapter) attended as delegates. Last year CEM13/MI-7 was held in Pittsburgh and NAYGN had a massive presence but in India the nuclear presence was much lower than it was at either CEM13/MI-7 (USA) or CEM10/MI-4 (Canada). 

NAYGN worked and collaborated in two events with the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)that were featured on the CEM agenda. The first one was on the “Youth RISE for NICE Future: A Nuclear Energy Youth Fair” in which we discussed NAYGN and why nuclear is so critical on our journey to decarbonizing. Other organizations that featured in this Youth Fair included the Indian Youth Nuclear Society (IYNS), Generation Atomic, Women in Nuclear and OECD-NEA.  (see below). 

Siddarth Yadav was also a panelist in the “Role of Nuclear Energy in the Clean Energy Workforce of the Future: Strategies & Solutions (Panel Discussion)” session. Siddarth discussed how NAYGN is showing leadership in helping nuclear attract and retain a diverse workforce among the youth community. Some of the key NAYGN initiatives were mentioned in the panel including the NAYGN career reports, the children’s books, as well as the DE&I committee that was created (See below). 

The CEM14/MI-8 had some notable presence including several high profile presence such as Jennifer Granholm (USA Secretary of Energy), Dr Sultan AL Jaber (COP28 President), Shri Raj Kumar Singh (India Minister of Power, New and Renewable Energy) and several other ministers of energy (See below). 

However, at CEM14/MI-8 nuclear is still a whispered topic with the majority of the discussion around renewables, green hydrogen, and other such technology exclusive topics. NAYGN will continue to ensure that we have volunteers engaging and advocating for nuclear – our next focus will be the Re+ conference in September and the UNFCCC COP28 conference in Dubai in November 2023.