New Delhi: US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Tuesday said an envisaged spending of USD 36 trillion in clean energy worldwide in the next four decades "should be very attractive for the private sector."
"...A clean energy group in the US has estimated investment in energy infrastructure over the next four decades globally to reach USD 36 trillion. That is a very large number and it should be very attractive for the private sector," he said at a CII conference on financing clean energy.
According to Moniz, the investment would be about 0.6 percent of the cumulative world GDP over this time (by 2050).
In 2012, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated an additional USD 36 trillion would be needed between 2010 and 2050 to transit to a low-carbon economy. This would give the world an 80 percent chance of keeping the average global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, the IEA said.
"The scale (of investment in clean energy) indicates the opportunity that we (India and US) will have in this clean energy transformation," Moniz said.
The US Energy Secretary said much of the recent weather changes around the world was due to global warming.
The World Meteorological Organization said last month that parts of the world witnessed a series of extreme weather conditions in the first six weeks of 2014, continuing a pattern set in December 2013.
"We are seeing really unusual weather as a result of global warming. There is need for prudent actions to pursue clean energy agenda. Public, government and private sector should continue push towards clean energy," Moniz said.
On the need to reduce the cost of clean energy, he said, "Cost reductions in clean technologies continue to advance in dramatic fashion and (yet) we still need reduction in cost."
Moniz is in India for the US-India Energy Dialogue, which was previously postponed due to a row over the treatment of an Indian diplomat in the US.
"Our dialogue has been very successful," he said, adding that in today's report, they would hear about progress in the solar and energy efficiency space.
The talks, part of the broader US-India strategic dialogue, were launched in May 2005 and last held in Washington DC in September 2012. The current meeting started on March 5th and will conclude today.
The dialogue is co-chaired by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Moniz.
"I completely agree that we need to little bit bend backward to make sure that regulatory restrictions and other restrictions that affect financing are little more favourable (to clean energy projects)," Ahluwalia said while addressing the conference.
