‘Green finance could be the highlight of India-US ties’
GREEN finance could become a bright and robust strand of the growing India-US economic relations in the next 25 years, India’s envoy in Washington has said, asserting that the two countries have the intent and will to lead the global fight against climate change.
The green economy is diverse globally, but concentrated in a few countries and is bound to find new and emerging markets like India, said Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India’s ambassador to the US.
‘This is the very reason, I see, green finance could become a bright and robust strand in the growing US-India economic relations during the next 25 years,’ he said during his address to a two-day conference on green finance cooperation between India and the US.
The event was organized by the Indian Embassy in Washington DC in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and was attended by more than 300 participants from across the globe.
‘India and US are natural partners, who have demonstrated time and again, that they can work together, combine their strengths and tap into synergies whenever humanity faces a crisis, COVID-19 pandemic is the most recent example,’ he said.
‘Today, the two countries have strong convergences and our leaderships have the intent and will to lead the global fight against climate change, he added.
In his remarks, Scott Nathan, CEO of the US Development Finance Corporation (USDFC), highlighted that his agency’s commitments in India account for roughly 10 per cent of its active portfolio, its largest relationship with any single country.
He added that while the USDFC has already invested $1bn as climate finance in India, the agency looks forward to deepening its engagement with the Indian clean energy sector including in areas like mobility and adaptation.
Some recent examples of partnership between the two countries in the field include the USDFC’s debt financing for First Solar’s 3.3 GW photovoltaic solar module manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu.