Union Minister of Railways and Coal, Piyush Goyal who has unarguably been one of the best performing ministers in the incumbent government will receive the Carnot prize for his immense contribution towards the sustainable energy solutions. He will be bestowed with the prize by a team from the University of Pennsylvania which is coming to facilitate him on January 30th i.e. today. The minister was to be awarded by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Design in October last year itself but he had to skip the event due to the Amritsar tragedy in which more than 60 people died after a train ran over them during Dussehra celebrations.
The Carnot award is the Kleinman Center’s annual recognition of distinguished contributions to energy policy through scholarship or practice. In its press release, last year, the Kleinman Center had lauded Goyal’s efforts towards fast-tracking initiatives to electrify 18,000 villages in remote parts of India, “helping bridge the country’s vast energy divide.” The release had also lauded the union minister for retiring outdated coal plants while launching an ambitious renewable energy expansion programme. It further stated, “Although India is the world’s fourth top CO2 emitter, the country is currently at 20% renewables and is on solid footing to reach a 40% renewable mix by 2030.” It also highlighted that this is a part of the country’s efforts to meet the Paris Agreement targets.
At that time, the founding faculty director of the Kleinman Center Mark Alan Hughes had also heaped praises on Piyush Goyal. Hughes had said that Goyal’s efforts, “demonstrate what it takes to create a just energy transition — courage amidst complexity. Providing power to the world’s energy poor turns on the lights—and also empowers education, sanitation, and healthcare. It closes the gap between the haves and have nots.” The award is named after French scientist Sadi Carnot who had recognised the fact that power of the steam engine would produce a great revolution in human development. The Carnot award seeks to facilitate those leading revolutions in energy policy to further progress and prosperity.
This time, the president of the Kleinman Center has said in his message, “Now as Minister of Coal and Railways, the Minster is courageously confronting the complexity of ending energy poverty while transitioning to clean energy.” The message further stated, “His work challenges all of us to consider what values justify the slow rate of U.S. transition to clean energy. We live in a world of common but differentiated responsibilities as we work to mitigate the energy system’s impacts on the climate commons.”
The award and the appreciations from the president of the Kleinman Center are suggestive of the fact that Piyush Goyal’s immense contribution is being recognised not only in India but across the globe. Goyal has been instrumental in leading the Indian power sector from the front and has made sure that every village gets access to power. It was majorly due to his leadership skills that the government could achieve its objective of electrifying every Indian village well within the deadline period. He truly deserved the Carnot prize which is a matter of great pride not only for Piyush Goyal or the Modi government but for the entire nation as a whole.