Top US official John Kerry has described India as a red-hot investment opportunity for its clean energy transition. He commended Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his commitment to addressing the challenge posed by climate change.
The Special Presidential Envoy for Climate said he intends to work very, very closely with the Indian leadership – PM Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. “We believe India can be one of the most critical transitional countries in this entire endeavour,” Kerry said. “I am confident that just as we have worked very closely on any number of issues in these last years, our two nations – the world’s two biggest democracies – have a great deal to gain from joining hands in our global leadership and confronting the climate crisis to meet this moment.”
Kerry said PM Modi has made a very important contribution to this dialogue. “You are indisputably a world leader in the deployment of renewable energy and your leadership of the International Solar Alliance, which minister Jaishankar referred to, is absolutely critical for not just India, but for other dynamic, growing economies in the world.
The US official highlighted PM Modi’s announcement of a target of 450 gigawatts of renewable by 2030 is a strong, terrific example of how to power a growing economy with clean energy, and its going to be one of the most important contributions because India today is already the third largest emitter in the world behind the United States and China.
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Kerry made it clear that India is a key partner of the US under the Biden administration and would take it over from where the relationship was left by the previous Trump administration. He said he knows PM Modi is committed to this and seized by it, and so are the Indian businesses. “I was also very heartened to see the recent government budget focused heavily on clean energy and propose a very specific hydrogen energy mission.”
The official said that by 2030, the International Energy Agency forecasts that if India drives even more aggressively towards this clean energy transition, it will create half a million additional jobs than business as usual would create.
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