New Delhi: The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Saturday welcomed the US’ decision to join the Indian-Swedish climate initiative, Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT), and said it will help meet the Paris Agreement goals.
In his address to a virtual summit on climate change, US President Joe Biden said he is looking forward to working with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a new partnership to achieve climate and energy goals, making this a core pillar of bilateral cooperation.
“We will be joining and a partner — for the nations and efforts to decarbonise critical sectors across the board, including the industrial sector, where we’ll join with Sweden and India, and in the Leadership Group for Industry Transition,” he said.
In a tweet, the White House said the United States is joining Sweden and India in LeadIT, an effort to promote low carbon pathways on the road to net-zero emissions for industries.
“Working together we can build momentum for industry transition to address the climate crisis,” the White House said.
Following the development, the PMO India tweeted, “Welcome @POTUS joining the Leadership Group for Industry Transition, LeadIT! This Indian-Swedish climate initiative takes the lead in heavy industry transition.”
“It will help us meet Paris Agreement goals, strengthen competitiveness & create new sustainable jobs,” it said.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, said, “It is very gratifying that the United States and President Biden have joined the Swedish-Indian initiative LeadIT.”
“Heavy industry and the transport sector account for about 30 percent of global emissions. A restructuring of these sectors is a necessary part of the fight against climate change,” said Lofven.
“I look forward to working with the United States and others to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, by pushing for the heavy industry to achieve fossil-free and net-zero emissions by 2050,” he said.
Sweden’s Ambassador to India Klas Molin said this is a major step for LeadIT, the initiative launched by the Swedish and Indian prime ministers at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York in 2019.
“The PMs also confirmed their commitment to the initiative at their recent Virtual Summit. Now that the USA is joining, we hope that more countries and companies also join the transition of heavy industries towards a fossil-free and carbon-neutral future,” Molin said.
The leadership group has been developed in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and brings together over 30 countries and industrial companies that work together to achieve fossil-free and net-zero emissions by 2050, in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, the Swedish Embassy said in a statement.
Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) hosts the Leadership Group’s secretariat.
The work plan for 2021 includes concrete initiatives from the public and private sectors to promote innovation and technology exchange, develop roadmaps for industrial change and policy measures to drive the change work, the statement said.
