India and the US have a great deal to gain from joining together to confront the climate crisis, according to John Kerry

India is a red-hot investment opportunity for its clean energy transition, top US official John Kerry said on Thursday praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his commitment to addressing the challenge posed by climate change.

"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 was quoted as saying in a PTI report.

"India is actually a red-hot investment opportunity for its clean energy transition," Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, said in his address to the World Sustainable Development Summit 2021.

Looking forward to visiting India soon, Kerry said that the Prime Minister has made a very important contribution to this dialogue. Needless to say, India is deeply committed to this challenge and it has been for a considerable number of years, he said.

“Thank you PM @NarendraModi, EAM @DrSJaishankar & @teriin for hosting me at #WSDS2021. India's commitment is clear - the country is taking important steps to back up words with real action. Our nations have a great deal to gain from joining together to confront the climate crisis,” Kerry said in a tweet.


During his address, he said, "You are 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”.

Referring to a latest report of the International Energy Agency, 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.

"And thanks to your rapid scale-up, it's already cheaper to build solar in India than anywhere else in the world. That kind of urgency is exactly what we need in order to confront the crisis that we confront today," he said..

In his speech, Kerry made it clear that India is a key partner of the US under the Biden Administration and would take it over from where the relationship was left by the previous Trump Administration.

On climate change, Kerry said that he knows that Prime Minister Modi is committed to this and seized by it, and so are Indian businesses.

"I was also very heartened to see the recent government budget focussed heavily on clean energy and propose a very specific hydrogen energy mission,” he said.