By IANS,
New Delhi : US Energy Secretary Steven Chu will hold talks with Indian officials later this week over climate change and clean energy, one of the important issues on the table when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh holds talks with US President Barack Obama in Washington Nov 24.
Chu is expected to meet Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran.
With the clock ticking away for the UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen, Chu is expected to make yet another effort to bridge the India-US gap on a global climate change treaty.
The US has been saying it cannot commit to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions unless large developing countries such as India and China at least say to what extent they will limit the rise of their own emissions.
India and China have, however, made it clear many times that they will not accept any legally binding emission targets that may interfere with thei growth trajectories.
New Delhi has advocated consistently the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ in tackling climate change and wants deeper emission targets by developed countries which are responsible for most of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere now.
This position was articulated when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited New Delhi in July and sought the support of India on the negotiations for a new global climate change deal.
The two sides will also discuss expanded cooperation in the field of renewable energy and energy-efficient green technologies, a sunshine sector that is set to grow in a world more aware of global warming.
Chu, a Chinese-American nuclear scientist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997, is an ardent advocate of shifting from fossil fuels to nuclear power and other forms of clean energy to combat global warming.
Chu has been pushing for a domestic climate change legislation that is expected to stimulate the American energy sector and encourage clean technology innovation.
Chu recently said that India has started recognising the effects of climate change and is working in this regard, but has not moved as far as China.