India, Britain pledge to work together on climate change

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart David Cameron on Thursday here pledged to work together to tackle climate change and signed a memorandum to strengthen energy cooperation between the countries.

The leaders said climate change is "one of the greatest global challenges of the century having adverse impacts at the national and international levels", said the joint statement.

Cameron and Modi welcomed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen energy cooperation between the two countries building on existing successes and promoting closer future collaboration in areas such as electricity market reform, energy efficiency, offshore wind, solar power, smart grids, energy storage, and off-grid renewable energy services.

The two prime ministers also pledged to work together for a comprehensive agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the Paris Climate Conference in December 2015.

The leaders emphasised the importance of climate finance and of developed countries honouring their commitment to mobilize jointly $100 billion a year by 2020 from a wide variety of sources, both public and private, in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation.

The two prime ministers announced 10 million pounds of joint funding from the Research Councils UK and Indian Department of Science and Technology for new joint renewable energy research centers, bringing the total value of the Indo-UK clean energy research programme to 60 million pounds.

Cameron announced the UK climate investment venture with the Green Investment Bank, which will invest up to a total of 200 million pounds of UK climate finance in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in India and Africa. He also announced a 10 million pounds five-year programme of technical assistance to support national and state-level reforms in India's power sector.

Cameron emphasized Britain's commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050, as set out in the 2008 Climate Change Act, meeting its carbon budgets in the most cost-effective manner.

Modi also highlighted India's commitment to reduce its emissions intensity by 33-35 percent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels and put in place 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030 through nationally determined development measures and priorities.