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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | US offers clean energy assistance

US offers clean energy assistance

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published Published on Jan 27, 2015   modified Modified on Jan 27, 2015
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: The US today pledged financial and technical assistance to help India expand its renewable energy programme, monitor air quality over its cities and improve India-specific climate forecasts among new initiatives on energy and climate.

A joint statement issued tonight after delegation-level talks led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama outlined proposed actions that could help India curb its growth of greenhouse gas emissions and advance the country's transition towards a low-carbon economy.

But India did not announce any timeline to cap its greenhouse gas emissions, belying speculation stirred by China's pledge to cap its own emissions by about the year 2030, made during Obama's visit to Beijing last November.

Analysts had pointed out that it would have been unrealistic to expect a capping timeline now from India whose per capita emission level is only two tonnes, compared to America's 20 tonnes and China's eight tonnes.

The Modi government had last year announced plans to increase India's solar energy capacity five-fold to 100,000MW by 2022 as part of the country's efforts to expand its share of electricity generated from renewable energy sources.

Obama today welcomed India's solar energy goals and indicated that US government financing in this area could be available, consistent with its policies to support private sector involvement for entities that would contribute to India's clean energy requirements.

The two countries also agreed to expand for another five years a partnership to advance clean energy research focused on three key areas - solar energy, building energy efficiency, and biofuels - and launch fresh research on smart electricity grids that will increase energy use efficiency.

A senior analyst who has been tracking international climate change negotiations and progress towards clean energy goals in the two countries said the announcements today should be viewed as a transition from intentions to an action plan for execution.

"The new partnership to stimulate private and public investment into renewable energy will play a pivotal role in India reaching its 100,000MW solar goal," said Manish Bapna, the executive vice-president and managing director of the World Resources Institute, a US-based think-tank.

"With rapidly falling prices, solar power is already cheaper than diesel power in many areas across India," Bapna said in a media release. "India's move to allow import of foreign-made solar panels also opens up a major new market for America's growing renewable energy industry."

The India-US joint statement said both countries recognise that global climate change is a "profound threat" to humanity and the imperatives of sustainable development. and eradication of poverty, and both plan to co-operate towards concluding a global climate change pact in Paris later this year.

Modi said India has not faced any pressure from other countries but added that climate change itself is a pressure. "Global warming itself is a huge pressure," he said in a statement after the talks. "Anyone who thinks about future generations should be concerned about this," he said, adding that every country, every government, every person should be conscious of the threats posed by climate change.

The India-US joint statement has also announced a plan under which the US Environmental Protection Agency will provide technical assistance, focussed on disseminating information to help people living in cities reduce their exposure to harmful levels of air pollution.

This initiative will help urban policy planners design strategies to improve air quality in cities.

The two countries also plan to jointly work to downscale international climate forecasting models for the Indian subcontinent. Senior climate scientists have long pointed out that the global models do not provide reliable forecasts for India and need to be scaled down for India-specific forecasts.

The downscaled models will improve forecasts at the sub-national scale.


The Telegraph, 26 January, 2015, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150126/jsp/nation/story_10239.jsp#.VMcctS7xyBE


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