With the Obama administration focussing on clean and renewable energy, India has sought partnership with the US in the field to meet the growing challenge of climate change.
Such a partnership between the two countries, after the civilian nuclear deal, is essential to jointly meet the challenges of climate change, prime minister's special envoy on climate change Shyam Saran told a meeting of US corporate leaders organised by the US India Business Council.
USIBC had played a significant role in the passage of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, despite tough hurdles.
Welcoming President Obama's Renewable Energy Initiative, Saran said: "The first component of our strategy for the future, for both Indian and US business is a renewable energy partnership covering different technological pathways and focussing on technology and product development."
Asserting that the world is on the cusp of an energy revolution, Saran said it is becoming apparent that current trends of growth of the global economy, in particular the growth of India and China, cannot be sustained by the accelerated depletion of fossil fuels.
"If energy is not to become a constraint on our growth -- the growth of India and the US and the global economy as a whole, then a relatively rapid and significant shift to renewable and non-conventional energy sources becomes inevitable. Both climate change action and energy security dictate this," Saran said.
Acknowledging the corporate leaders' significant contribution, he said: "You can be justifiably proud of what your contribution has helped accomplish -- a dramatic transformation in Indo-US relations and the opening up of a wide-ranging spectrum of opportunities for economic partnership."
"The challenge before us now lies in translating these opportunities into practical collaborative partnerships on a scale and of a quality that befits the strategic partnership between our two countries," he observed.
Observing that the two countries need to look beyond the immediate compulsion of stimulating the respective economies, he said the business and industry leaders of the two nations can together begin to look at the newly emerging realities and position the two democracies to be leaders in the new wave of creative entrepreneurship and technological innovation that will be required to face new and unfamiliar challenges.
