US Special Presidential Envoy for climate John Kerry will be in India from September 12-14 to launch a bilateral dialogue on climate action and mobilise finance for speeding up clean energy deployment this decade, together with his Indian counterparts, ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-26) next month.
“Special Presidential Envoy Kerry will meet with Government of India counterparts and private sector leaders to discuss efforts to raise global climate ambition and speed India’s clean energy transition,” according to a statement issued by the US Department of State.
During his visit, the US and India will launch the Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue, one of the two main tracks of the US-India Agenda 2030 Partnership that President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at the Leaders Summit on Climate in April 2021.
Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership
The Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership to enhance actions to curb greenhouse gas emissions in the current decade will help meet the goals under the Paris Agreement, according to US officials.
Also see: India, US agree to collaborate on emerging fuels
The partnership will aim to mobilise finance and speed clean energy deployment; demonstrate and scale innovative clean technologies needed to decarbonise sectors including industry, transportation, power, and buildings; and build capacity to measure, manage, and adapt to the risks of climate-related impacts, according to the India-US joint statement in April this year following the launch of the partnership. It will build on and subsume a range of existing processes.
“The Special Envoy’s travel will bolster the United States’ bilateral and multilateral climate efforts ahead of the COP-26 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will be held from October 31 to November 12 in Glasgow, United Kingdom,” the release said.
The COP-26 summit will bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UNFCC to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 °C, compared to pre-industrial levels. To attain this, countries have to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century.