‘India-U.S. clean energy cooperation will go on’

"Very little will change. Coal is not coming back in the U.S. regardless of what Republicans say," says Amos J. Hochstein, Special Envoy, Bureau of Energy Resources at the Department of State.

The change in the United States administration will not have any impact on India-U.S. cooperation in the field of renewable energy, a high-ranking official in the Obama administration has said.

Amos J. Hochstein, Special Envoy, Bureau of Energy Resources at the Department of State, said coal is being discarded by power manufacturers not because of government regulations but due to the changes in technology. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to revive coal mining in the U.S. and leave the Paris climate agreement. “Very little will change. Coal is not coming back in the U.S. regardless of what Republicans say,” Mr. Hochstein said.

“Coal will remain a major part of India’s energy mix, which is true when Obama is President, which will be true when Donald Trump will be President. But it was not President Obama who set the target of 175 GW of renewable energy for India, it was PM Modi. I don’t see that changing,” he said.

“People are not using coal not only because they are concerned about climate change, but also because of the same reason why they don’t use VCRs any longer,” he said, speaking at the launch of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies-led U.S.-India State and Urban Initiative that aims at coordinating interactions between the two countries.

“There is tremendous demand but no natural way of accessing them. Because there is not one India, there are many States and other regional factors. Conversely, there is not one U.S. There is such a diversity of experience, of models….India- U.S. relations will have to move beyond government to government. India-U.S. relations are global, but it should also be local,” said Nisha Biswal, Assistant Secretary, South and Central Asian Affairs, who spoke at the event.