America
Obama to focus on climate change in summit with Modi
By
By Arun Kumar
Washington, Sep 25
Climate change will be a
key focus of President Barack Obama's summit with Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, officials said as US looks at India as critical to a
successful global effort to combat climate change.
Obama will
have a bilateral meeting with Modi Monday after his address to the UN
General Assembly, the President's Deputy National Security Advisor Ben
Rhodes told reporters Thursday in a conference call.
"This will
give the two leaders an opportunity to build on the discussions they had
earlier this year during the President's historic trip to India," he
said.
"We are deeply committed to strengthening the US-Indian
relationship, building our economic and commercial ties, advancing our
political and security cooperation in Asia and around the world," Rhodes
said.
"Notably, India will be critical to a successful global
effort to combat climate change, so the two leaders will certainly
address their shared vision of how to approach the upcoming meetings in
Paris," he said.
A UN conference on climate change in Paris in
December aims to reach an accord that commits every country to curbing
their emissions.
Noting that climate change "has been a core
priority of the President's, at home and abroad," Rhodes said it will be
high on the agenda in Obama's bilateral meetings with President Xi
Jinping of China at the White House Thursday night and Friday.
"As
the two biggest emitters of the world, the leadership shown by the US
and China heading into the UN session and the meetings in Paris will be
critical to a successful outcome," he said.
After the
breakthrough last year in terms of the US and China both announcing
targets in terms of emissions reductions, they hoped to have additional
commitments the two nations will be taking into Paris, Rhodes said.
While
Pope Francis had put his moral authority behind global efforts to
combat climate change, the UN Secretary General had put it at the top of
the UN's agenda.
Now "the leadership of the two largest emitters
in the world (US and China) coming together to support aggressive
action to reduce emissions and have a successful agreement in Paris,"
the official said.
"And then the President's meeting with Prime
Minister Modi will be very important because India, of course, is also
another major economy -- major emitter," Rhodes said.
"And we'll
want to continue the discussions that we had in India about what Prime
Minister Modi is prepared to do to support successful international
action against climate change," he said.
"So this will feature in
the President's diplomacy," he said, as "we need all of the nations of
the world to step up and be a part of the solution."
Meanwhile,
media reports citing unnamed Obama administration officials said Xi will
make a landmark commitment Friday to start a national programme in 2017
that will limit and put a price on greenhouse gas emissions.
The
announcement to create a so-called cap-and-trade system by the world's
largest polluter to reduce emissions from major industries will be made
during his summit with Obama. The move, according to the New York Times,
is "part of an ambitious effort by China and the US to use their
leverage internationally to tackle climate change and to pressure other
nations to do the same."
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])