New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez on 13 September introduced a bill to strengthen US-India ties for clean energy technologies and cooperation. The bill called for creation of a US-India Climate and Clean Energy Power Parternship (CCEP), a forum and funding mechanism for cooperation between the two countries.
The senator is the chairperson of the Foreign Relations Committee and has worked alongside India’s Minister of New and Renewable Energy and Indian business leaders during the 2019 delegation to India to discuss how the two countries can address the threat climate change and work together in cooperation on clean energy production.
The legislation comes at a time when US Presidential Envoy on Climate John Kerry is on a visit to India where "the two countries activated a mechanism to fund India’s transition to clean energy" launched at the Climate Summit in April by President Joe Biden.
This is another step towards Biden's US-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership.
”By establishing the US-India Climate and Clean Energy Partnership, we are laying the groundwork for successful partnerships between not only the US and Indian governments, but also our universities and private sectors.”Bob Menendez, as quoted by American Bazaar
Features of the Bill
The legislation calls for sharing of intellectual property between private sectors on renewable energy and clean air technologies and supports technical assistance for improvements in energy efficiency in India. It promotes joint research, development and application of clean energy between the universities of the two nations, and encourages US private sector investments in India.
The bill "sets advancing climate risk reduction and resilience capacities as a priority for the US diplomatic, security, and development work in India," and commissions "a report on opportunities" for the states of both countries to work in cooperation in "advancing clean energy solutions," American Bazaar reported.
It also asks for a multi-year strategy for the CCEP to be submitted to the US Congress.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times and American Bazaar)
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