Statement by Environment Minister Prior to his Departure to US

India will confirm plans next week for a staggering 175 gigawatt growth in its renewable energy portfolio, Javadekar said Thursday.

“We will put our ideas of climate justice, lifestyle, finance technology, differentiation and ambitious goals long-term and short-term goals”.

The United Nations launched a major new initiative on Tuesday designed to encourage businesses and consumers to voluntarily become “climate neutral” and some of the world’s leading companies including Microsoft, Sony, Adidas have already pledged their support.

Obama said “a percent here or a percent there” in pledged cuts “is not going to be a deal breaker”, but said it was critical to set up a system to require countries to review their pledges every five years and continue to make cuts after the Paris talks conclude. “Modi has indicated he wants to make a very big push on the economy, focus more on manufacturing”.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj co-chaired the first India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue that ended with an important takeaway of a joint statement on enhancing cooperation on climate change. Javadekar indicated the new intensity target would be more ambitious, but he would not give details. “We now have the potential to go even further together, in particular concerning low carbon energy”. While China and the US have pledged to bring theirs to a common 12 tons per capita by 2030, India “will never reach there”, Javadekar said.

The initiative includes a new online platform that allows users to choose from a range of UN-verified offsetting schemes The United Nations says all of the projects contribute to sustainable development in the developing world as well as reducing global emissions.

“India’s nuclear energy programme is primarily meant for peaceful purposes and has achieved rapid strides in recent times, particularly because Narendra Modi himself takes a personal interest and promotes all the scientific initiatives, including those undertaken by the department of atomic energy”, Jitendra Singh told the visiting official. Instead, it will rely on building business opportunities, and hopes for worldwide commitments in waiving high intellectual property costs for sharing technologies that can help India improve its energy production and efficiency. “They should actually help India to build this huge program, making it a reality”.