NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

By Kanika Chawla, Alan Yu, and Rita Cliffton

The Center for American Progress (CAP) and India’s Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) co-authored this report on renewed U.S.-India climate collaboration. This report aims to advance both organizations’ missions to recommend bold, progressive policy ideas for both countries in order to deepen their work together to combat climate change. CAP and CEEW, representing leading think tanks from the United States and India, partnered in policy research and developed shared recommendations to position the United States and India as climate collaborators early in the new U.S. administration. CAP’s long-standing policy interest in advocating ambitious solutions to combat climate change both domestically and internationally aligns with CEEW’s policy interest in accelerating the energy transition in emerging economies.

Executive summary

President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, affirming their commitment to the U.S.-India relationship, have identified tackling the threat of climate change as one of their top bilateral priorities. The United States and India have respective and shared interests in making climate change cooperation a central pillar of the strategic partnership. Such deepened cooperation would:

• Advance global climate progress and Paris Agreement goals by ramping up action in India: The pace of the United States’ decarbonization strategy and India’s clean energy transition will be critical in order for the world to be compliant with the Paris Agreement. U.S.-India collaboration on policies, technologies, and financing can support aggressive domestic economic and energy transformations.
• Demonstrate climate collaboration: As the United States and India pursue economic recovery, they can consult on, learn from, and demonstrate model sustainability-centered, climate-focused pathways for developed and developing economies.
• Affirm shared global climate leadership: As the United States works to restore its international credibility on climate action, the world will be watching the nature of its collaborations globally, particularly with developing countries such as India.
• Create economic opportunities: A reinvigorated climate partnership would broaden India’s access to the technological and financial resources required to support its sustainable development and decarbonization strategies and would deepen access for U.S. businesses.
• Advance geostrategic interests: A strengthened climate partnership also would advance the U.S. and Indian governments’ respective and shared geostrategic interests.