The United States today unveiled a USD 350-million multinational effort to help provide clean energy technology to developing countries, including India, to curb greenhouse gas emissions and reduce global warming.
The Climate Renewable and Efficiency Deployment Initiative (Climate REDI) was unveiled at an event on the sidelines of the 12-day climate summit, attended by US Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
Chu said the project is aimed at offering solar energy and Light Emitting Diodes (LED) lanterns to those without access to electricity, providing an alternative to expensive and polluting kerosene lamps.
"We want to turn on the lights, turn on the lights where people live, but in a way that does not contribute to climate change. We need to make sure the lights we put on the market adhere to certain standards," Chu said.
Underlining that Indian companies have been "pioneers" in the development of low-cost pharmaceutical technology, which is now being used widely in Africa, Ramesh said, "I see no reason why we cannot in the next five to six years emerge as world leaders in low cost technology with the help of our American counterparts."
"We believe technology holds the key. I hope at some stage we will be contributing to the initiative," he said.
The US share of the programme will amount to USD 85 million with the rest coming from Australia, Britain, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland.
