THE US special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry has said that India’s transition into clean energy provides a ‘red-hot’ investment opportunity.

Kerry on Thursday(11) praised prime minister Narendra Modi for his commitment to addressing the challenge posed by climate change which the Biden Administration believes poses an existential threat to humanity.

The US official added that he wants to work with Modi and external minister S Jaishankar ‘very closely’.

“We believe India can be one of the most critical transitional countries in this entire endeavour. I am confident that just as we have worked very closely on any number of issues in these last years, our two nations — the world’s two biggest democracies — have a great deal to gain from joining hands in our global leadership and confronting the climate crisis to meet this moment,” Kerry said.

Kerry, the first official on climate to be inside the US National Security Council, made these comments in his address to the World Sustainable Development Summit 2021.

He added: “India is indisputably a world leader in the deployment of renewable energy and your leadership of the International Solar Alliance, which minister Jaishankar referred to, is absolutely critical for not just India, but for other dynamic, growing economies in the world.

“Modi’s announcement of a target of 450 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030 is a strong, terrific example of how to power a growing economy with clean energy. It’s going to be one of the most important contributions because India today is already the third largest emitter in the world behind the US and China.”

He said India’s down payment on the clean energy transition puts it on pace to become the global market leader in solar and storage by 2040.

In a recent interview, India’s ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, had identified climate change as one of the key pillars of collaboration between the two countries.

The International Energy Agency forecasts that if India drives even more aggressively towards this clean energy transition, it will create half a million additional jobs by 2030 than business as usual would create.