John Kerry in India urges action on climate change

In a country ravaged by flooding, US Secretary of State John Kerry urged India to further address climate change on Sunday and suggesting green technology will only benefit the economy.

Kerry spoke to a crowd at the India Habitat center in New Delhi on the first day of a two-day visit.

“Here in India, the home of so much of the history of science, we must recognize that today the science of climate change is screaming at us for action,” Kerry said, according to Agence France-Presse.

An estimated 1,000 people have died from flooding in northern India over the last week, and Kerry also announced a $150,000 aid package to help rescue efforts.

“It appears as if, in many ways, in many places, Mother Nature is telling us to heed the warnings,” Kerry said.

Kerry’s remarks come after President Barack Obama announced he would make a major announcement on Tuesday regarding green initiatives.

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Kerry said he understood India’s “paramount commitment to development and eradicating poverty,” but failure to act decisively on climate change would undermine growth.

“The good news is that if we do this right, it won’t hurt our economies, it will grow them,” he said.
“It won't deny our children opportunity, it will create new ones. The new energy market can be the biggest on earth, a $6 trillion market with four billion users, and its fastest growing segment, by far, is clean energy.”

India, like other emerging economies, has resisted pressure from the West to sign up to targets on cutting carbon emissions, AFP said.

However, it has also invested in 1,000 megawatts of solar power over since 2010, The Washington Post reported. About 20 percent of the financing for those projects came from the United States.

Kerry is to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.