INDIA AND THE UNITED STATES AGREE
TO EXPAND COOPERATION IN CLIMATE CHANGE TECHNOLOGY
India and the United
States have agreed to increase their cooperation in various aspects
of climate change such as renewable energy and energy efficiency,
climate modeling and integrated environment strategy. This was
decided at a meeting between the visiting US delegation which
included Mr. David Garman, Asstt. Secretary, US Deptt. of Commerce,
Dr. Harlan Watson, Senior Climate Change Negotiator and Mr. Dennis
Leaf from Environment Protection Agency and the Minister of Environment
& Forests, Shri T.R. Baalu, here yesterday. At present the
United States has the largest number of bilateral projects with
India numbering 15 in the field of Environment. The US side briefed
their Indian counterparts about the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative launched
by President Bush, earlier this year. The initiative in which
1.2 billion dollars is being invested aims at commercialization
of Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles and infrastructure in about 20
years. Various other countries including the European Union, Japan
and Canada are also spending over 2 billion additional dollars
for research and development of Hydrogen energy technologies.
The Indian side, while appreciating the objectives of the programme
wanted to know how the Indian conditions can be incorporated into
the programme. The Indian side also felt that a cost benefit assessment
of hydrogen energy technologies should be carried out. The two
sides agreed to continue the discussion of issues in a more detailed
manner at the level of experts.
