President Obama on Tuesday urged the world’s third-largest carbon polluter to embrace clean energy, saying the broader international fight against climate change hinges on how developing countries address the problem.
Speaking in New Delhi, India, Mr. Obama acknowledged that the U.S. now is asking countries such as India and China and to forego the use of fossil fuels, especially coal, even though those fuels powered the American Industrial Revolution and led to rapid economic growth.
But the president argued that the battle against global warming is so important that India must find ways to power and grow their economies with clean, renewable fuels.
“I know the argument made by some — that it’s unfair for countries like the United States to ask developing nations and emerging economies like India to reduce your dependence on the same fossil fuels that helped power our growth for more than a century,” Mr. Obama said in a speech at the government-run Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi. “But here’s the truth. Even if countries like the United States curb our emissions, if countries that are growing rapidly like India with soaring energy needs don’t also embrace cleaner fuels, then we don’t stand a chance against climate change.”
The Obama administration has taken a number of drastic and highly controversial actions to reduce the use of fossil fuels and fight climate change, including cutting a deal with China that requires the U.S. to make massive reductions in carbon emissions while China only committed to capping its emissions by 2030.
To meet that goal, the White House has implemented new restrictions on power-plant emissions, stricter auto fuel efficiency standards and other steps.
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Over just the past few weeks, the administration also has proposed new regulations on methane emissions from oil-and-gas wells and released a plan to permanently lock up vast oil reserves in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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