US legislation on climate change seeks to reinvigorate bilateral cooperation with India

Washington, April 16

A group of 10 US Senators have introduced a comprehensive international climate change legislation that among other things seeks to reinvigorate bilateral cooperation with India in this sector, ahead of next week's Leaders' Summit on Climate being convened by the White House.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is among the 40 world leaders invited by US President Joe Biden to the Leaders' Summit on Climate on April 22 and 23.

Being built as a key milestone on the road to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow, the Leaders' Summit on Climate will underscore the urgency and the economic benefits of stronger climate action.

Senator Bob Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who introduced the United States Climate Leadership in International Mitigation, Adaptation, and Technology Enhancement Act of 2021 (US Climate Act), along with nine of his other Democratic colleagues, said that the legislation represents the most comprehensive foreign policy-focused climate change bill introduced in Congress.

Laying out a bold vision to assure the United States appropriately leads the global effort to combat the climate crisis through a new suite of climate foreign policy, climate finance and foreign assistance, and climate diplomacy programmes and initiatives, the legislation also directs US bilateral and multilateral engagements and strategies on climate, and improves integration of climate policy into all aspects of American foreign affairs.

Devoting a separate section on India, the legislation that runs into 212 pages urges the Biden administration to take steps to reinvigorate bilateral cooperation with India on research development and investment in clean energy technology.

Since demand for energy in India will increase with the expansion of the economy and middleclass of India, it is in the interest of the United States national security and global security for the US to support India in growing the energy sector of India in environmentally and socially responsible ways that mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and improve the climate security of India, the legislation says.

India, the act says, has met its growing energy demands by becoming a global leader in renewable energy generation. PTI