SPECIAL STORY
CHANGING INDIA'S
ENERGY MIX TO GREEN ENERGY
C
limate change has resurfaced as a foundation of the United States' partnership with India since Joe Biden assumed office as president. It was revealed during a recent online conference of the Quad countries' chiefs of state — Australia, India, Japan, and the United States. “We will form a climate working group to boost climate efforts worldwide on mitigation, adaptation, resilience, technology, capacitybuilding, and climate finance,” the leaders said in a joint statement. Our specialists and top officials will meet on a regular basis, and our foreign ministers will meet at least once a year. By the end of 2021, we will have an in-person meeting for leaders.” Climate change was raised as a topic of conversation during the first major meeting (although virtual) between the US president and the Indian prime minister. However, this
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DAWN
September 2021
isn't the first time that climate change has been used to break the ice between the two leaders. In March 2000, then-US president Bill Clinton paid a visit to India at a time when bilateral relations were only beginning to warm up following the economic sanctions put on India following the nuclear tests at Pokharan in May 1998. Despite predictions that Clinton would speak about defence and security, there were signs that the focus will be on green diplomacy. Clinton unveiled a package of green assistance while speaking in the foreground of the Taj Mahal, confirming this prediction. What impact would pollution have on children if Taj's walls might acquire "marble cancer," he questioned while vowing support for power sector reforms, clean and renewable energy, and energy efficiency. When Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited the United States later in 2000, the green diplomacy continued.
