India has urged the US to transfer clean technology and provide funding to the renewable energy sector in India to help fight climate change. It was the high point of the discussion between new and renewable energy minister Farooq Abdullah and visiting US special envoy for climate change Todd Stern in the Capital on Tuesday.
Keeping aside the climate change standoff on greenhouse gas emission cuts between India and the US, talks between the two leaders focused on exploring collaborative opportunities in renewable energy sector, particularly on clean technology transfer. Abdullah emphasised on the need to break technology transfer barriers.
At the international forums, India has been insisting all along that the issue of technology transfer can by resolved by making an ??adjustment?? in intellectual property rights as in the case of HIV/AIDS drugs, bidding for patented technology from a global fund set up for the purpose, or undertaking publicly funded research on a collaborative model to come up with appropriate clean technologies.
Referring to high costs of deploying renewables like solar energy, Abdullah sought financial support from the US. He also called for low-interest loans to help the industry replace conventional energy with non-conventional one.
The meeting came a day after the release of the US-India joint statement following secretary of state Hillary Clinton?s meetings with Indian leaders in New Delhi. Both the countries pledged to promote collaboration on energy security and climate change and make efforts focused on increasing energy efficiency, renewable energy, and clean energy technologies. Both sides also agreed to launch a process of bilateral scientific and technological collaboration to support the development, deployment and transfer of transformative and innovative technologies in areas of mutual interest including solar and other renewable energy, clean coal and energy efficiency.
India and the US also affirmed their commitment to work together with other countries, including through the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF), for positive results in the UNFCCC Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December 2009.The recently held US-led MEF in L?Aquila, Italy, sought to lay the ground for enabling different countries strike partnerships to drive low-carbon technologies. For example, India was asked to show leadership in high-efficiency and clean-coal technologies.
President Barack Obama too, after launching his renewable energy initiative of $150 million over 10 years, had invited India to become a partner, particularly in areas like clean coal technology, solar energy and energy efficiency. India has already expressed its readiness to look at joint R&D projects on clean coal and solar energy.
India is also working with the US, Australia, Canada, China, Japan and Korea under Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate to push clean energy technologies.
