US-India share common challenges due to climate change: US envoy

US envoy to India Richard Verma Friday said the recent summit meetings between the two countries converged their interests that were common due to the challenges posed by climate change.

"There has been a convergence of interests and stories about climate change and its impacts on both our countries," Verma said at the 15th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit here.

During India-US bilateral summits, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama discussed issues ranging from climate change to clean energy as well as other key policy issues during the latter's three-day state visit to India in January.

Describing the severity of global warming, Verma said Obama noted 2014 was the "hottest" year on record while the US was severely impacted by storms.

"India has also been severely impacted by climate change, suffering from water shortages, glacial melt, an increased severity of monsoons, irregularity of water supplies, and the particularly intense drought in the north," he said.

In view of the "significant convergence of the challenges and opportunities the two countries had", Verma laid stress on US Secretary of State John Kerry's observation that "solution to climate change lies through a country's energy policies". Kerry was on a two-day state visit to India before Obama.

"The United States and India have held significant discussions on energy policy and clean energy policy.These discussions on energy policy are one of the foundations of the historic summit that took place last week," he said.

Noting that developing countries emitted over 60 percent of global emissions, Verma said his country "recognized its role in contributing to the problem and so has taken a leadership role in mitigating greenhouse gases."

"The US experience has proved that economic growth and emissions reductions can go hand in hand. For example the US economy is 60 percent larger than it was in 1995 but carbon emissions have returned to 1995 levels. This demonstrates that we can create jobs for the future by investing in a healthy economy today," he added.