WASHINGTON : The US has praised India for its “considerable momentum” towards clean energy, saying that over 10 per cent of the country’s electricity will come from renewable energy by 2022.
“India has put forward a target of 175 gigawatts of renewables by 2022, which would mean well-over 10 per cent of their electricity would come from renewable energy by that year,” Rick Duke, Deputy Director White House Office of Energy and Climate Change said.
“So we see considerable momentum coming out of that joint statement,” Duke said in response to a question on US-China joint announcement at a discussion on US Climate Commitments convened by World Resources Institute.
Noting that President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping had jointly announced a historic set of targets to cut emissions last year, Duke said the move has had a “galvanising effect” on the overall momentum in the context of the Paris negotiations.
“Since then, we’ve seen countries that represent over 60 per cent of global energy CO2 emissions come forward with post-2020 emissions reduction targets. So lots of momentum, lots of movement to deploy low-carbon technologies and see their costs come down accordingly,” he said.
Duke said Obama had asked every agency to consider what they can do and to keep looking for options to drive down emissions.
Obama has set an ambitious goal to cut emissions 17 per cent by 2020, and then started a whole series of actions in the first term to deliver those results, he said.
At the beginning of the second term he came forward with a strong statement on climate change in his inaugural address, followed shortly thereafter by the historic Climate Action Plan in June of 2013, he added.
“What we’re seeing is that poll after poll shows that Americans support climate action. They support strong action on climate,” Duke said.
“Measures like historic fuel economy standards delivered during the first term, appliance efficiency standards, doubling renewable electricity during the first term, and a whole suite of other measures that are in motion under the Climate Action Plan are cutting energy waste, they’re saving consumers’ money, and they’re delivering both carbon pollution reduction and public health benefits,” he added. (AGENCIES)
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