Climate, clean energy most critical area uniting U.S. and India: Envoy

Climate and promotion of the use of clean energy are the most critical areas uniting the United States and India, said Ambassador Richard Verma on Monday.

"We are committed to sharing our experiences, our technology, and our financing possibilities to help India meet its aggressive renewable targets, to combat air pollution and to lessen the impact of temperature increases upon India," the envoy said while addressing students and faculty of IIT-Madras.

"We have brought billions to the table in low-cost clean energy financing, and we will continue to help sponsor and bring clean energy solutions to market. We were pleased last week to establish a joint U.S./India multi-million dollar fund to support bringing green power to Indian communities that have none," he added.

He further went on to say that South India has an especially significant role to play in India's quest to achieve 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022.

"Here, in Tamil Nadu, there is a strong commitment to clean energy with twice as much installed wind capacity as the next Indian state. Both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have significant solar potential as well," he said.

On the issue of civil nuclear cooperation, Ambassador Verma said that it continues to move ahead.

"The Indian Government has committed to ratify the international convention ensuring liability for nuclear accidents is channeled to operators, not suppliers; they have moved out aggressively on establishing an insurance pool; and our companies are working closely with NPCIL, India's nuclear power company, on ensuring these government to government commitments make their way into commercial contracts," he said.

"And, we continue to have excellent discussions with India on the leadership role it intends to play in the Paris climate talks. The Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) himself said he needs no convincing on the impacts of climate change, and we are hopeful that India will chart a compelling way forward that reduces its dependence on carbon-based sources of energy and embraces the huge opportunities available in today's green economy," he added.

"We will continue to do our part in facilitating the financing and technology necessary to help facilitate this critical transformation," he said.