Recognizing the urgent threat of climate change, the United States and India are committed to bringing the Paris Agreement into force as quickly as possible. The two nations plan to work together to adopt in 2016 an ambitious amendment to phase-down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons – a potent greenhouse gas – under the Montreal Protocol, which could avoid a half-degree of temperature increase. By avoiding up to 0.5°C of warming by the end of the century, an HFC Amendment is one of the most consequential actions to implement the goals of the Paris Agreement. Furthermore, the United States and India committed to work together to reach a successful resolution to address greenhouse gas emissions from international civil aviation at the upcoming International Civil Aviation Organization Assembly, says a White House release.
Through the U.S.-India Joint Working Group on Combating Climate Change and related fora, the United States and India continue to advance bilateral cooperation on climate change.
- Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship: In March, the U.S. and Indian governments announced the first call for applicants for the U.S.-India Fulbright—Kalam Climate Fellowship, part of a commitment made by President Obama and Prime Minister Modi to building long-term capacity to address climate change-related issues in both countries.
- Partnership for Climate Resilience: In support of the U.S.-India Partnership for Climate Resilience launched by President Obama and Prime Minister Modi, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) are leading a collaboration to model future climate conditions in India at high resolution, to assess climate risks at the sub-national level in India and to support actions that promote climate-resilient sustainable development. Also under this Partnership, NASA released its NASA Earth Exchange Global Daily Downscaled Projections (NEX-GDDP) dataset that provides downscaled climate model data for the Indian sub-continent. Over the coming year, IITM and NOAA intend to co-host a series of workshops in India with U.S. and Indian experts to focus on the development and use of downscaling tools for seasonal forecasting and multi-decadal climate risk assessment.
- Advancing Air Quality Cooperation: The two countries will work to reduce urban population exposure to air pollution by disseminating information through the AirNow-International program, which should enable urban policy planners to improve air quality in cities, allowing for estimates of health and climate change benefits of these strategies.
- Technical Cooperation on Heavy-Duty Vehicles: Both countries have pledged to cooperate on reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions from heavy-duty vehicles in India through the G-20. This technical cooperation will help inform the design of heavy-duty vehicle Greenhouse Gas emission standards which will result in significant oil saving benefits in India.
