Quad partners are working together to address climate change through mitigation and adaptation efforts. They are supporting Indo-Pacific countries with energy transition, disaster risk resilience, climate information exchange, green shipping, and capacity building. The Quad Climate Working Group, established in March 2021, is pursuing activities under three distinct pillars :
Pillar I: Climate Ambition
Pillar II: Clean-energy Innovation and Deployment
Pillar III: Climate Adaptation, Resilience, and Preparedness.
Clean Energy Supply Chains
The May 2023 Summit in Hiroshima, Leaders announced a Quad Statement of Principles on Clean Energy Supply Chains in the Indo-Pacific to promote diverse, secure, transparent, and resilient clean energy supply chains and support just, sustainable, and inclusive clean energy transitions. Implementation of these principles is being supported by a Clean Energy Supply Chains Diversification Program that will fund research and development, and feasibility studies in the Indo-Pacific to support the development and diversification of key clean energy supply chains associated with solar photovoltaic systems, hydrogen electrolyzers, and batteries.
Quad Energy Ministers met on the margins of the Indo-Pacific Clean Energy Supply Chain Forum (The Sydney Energy Forum), in July 2022 in Sydney.
Green Shipping
Quad partners are sharing knowledge and exchanging best practices through the Quad Shipping Task Force with the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the shipping value chain and advancing green shipping corridors between Quad countries, including by forming a Green Shipping Network of the leading ports - Los Angeles, Mumbai Port Trust, Sydney (Botany), and Yokohama.
Clean Hydrogen and Ammonia
Quad’s Clean Hydrogen and Ammonia Partnership seeks to promote efforts to construct clean hydrogen and clean ammonia supply chains in the Indo-Pacific region.
India organised a Quad Workshop on Regulations, Codes and Standards (RCS) for Clean Hydrogen in July 2022 in New Delhi to strengthen ongoing initiatives and identify new opportunities in the clean hydrogen sector. Japan hosted a hybrid workshop in December 2022 to discuss the challenges in the ammonia value chain and explore opportunities and solutions through the sharing of strategies and best practices.
Quad partners are also sharing best practices and initiatives for reducing methane in the natural gas sector, and deploying CCUS and Carbon Recycling in achieving carbon neutrality, aligned with climate objectives and domestic contexts.
Climate Information Services
At the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Tokyo in May 2022, Quad partners established the ‘Climate and Information Service Task Force’ as part of the Quad Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Package (Q-CHAMP). Q-CHAMP is centered on climate mitigation and adaptation/resilience for tangible and systematic climate action within the group and the Indo-Pacific region.
Under the Climate Information Services Initiative, we plan to coordinate our collective resources to support early warning systems in the Indo-Pacific, including through the Pacific-led Weather Ready Pacific initiative and the longstanding leadership of the Pacific Meteorological Council. We also intend to provide support through global partnerships such as the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and its Infrastructure for Resilient Islands States (IRIS) initiative.
Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate-Resilient Infrastructure
Quad partners are working together to support sustainable development and resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems to address climate and disaster risks. They are promoting cooperation in disaster risk reduction against extreme weather events, including through cooperative efforts by each of the governments as they work with Pacific Islands countries, which are among the world’s most climate-vulnerable. These efforts have increased regional capacity to reduce climate-related costs and have strengthened data interoperability globally. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, India’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change along with the Coalition of Disaster Reduction Initiative, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are playing a significant role in this direction.. The QUAD partners participated in “Regional Cooperation for Strengthening the Resilience of Infrastructure Systems and Communities in the Indo-Pacific” joint session held at the International Conference for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure in May 2022.
Workshop and Events
Workshops have also been held by the Quad members on the sidelines of COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh in Japan Pavilion in November 2022 to share knowledge on Subnational Climate Actions and reducing emissions of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), to encourage city-to-city collaboration and enhance the capacity of Indo-Pacific countries in reducing fluorocarbon emissions.
Quad Climate Working Group organised five side events on the sidelines of COP28 in Dubai in India Pavilion in December 2023: Financing the Resilient and Sustainable Infrastructure - Role of Public-Private Partnerships; Quad Clean Energy Initiatives; LiFE - ‘Localized Climate Action’; Capturing the Resilience Dividend Towards Closing the Infrastructure Gap; Call for Action - Resilience for Seaport Infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific Region. These events were attended by countries from the Indo-Pacific and other regions.
