US intends to work with Indian leadership on clean energy, says Kerry

US has said that India is  actually a red-hot investment opportunity for its clean energy transition and  intends to work "very, very closely with" with Indian leadership including Prime Minister Modi and External Minister S Jaishankar. John Kerry, the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his commitment to addressing the challenge posed by climate change, which the Biden Administration believes poses an existential threat to humanity.

"We believe India can be one of the most critical transitional countries in this entire endeavour. 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," he said. Kerry was delivering his first address to the World Sustainable Development Summit 2021 on Thursday.  "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,” Kerry said.

Referring to a latest report of the International Energy Agency, he said India's down payment on the clean energy transition puts it on pace to become the global market leader in solar and storage by 2040. "And thanks to your rapid scale-up, it's already cheaper to build solar in India than anywhere else in the world. That kind of urgency is exactly what we need in order to confront the crisis that we confront today," he said. Prime Minister Modi's announcement of a target of 450 gigawatts of renewables by 2030 is a strong, terrific example of how to power a growing economy with clean energy, and it's 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, he said.