Saturday, April 26, 2014: In a letter addressed to US Trade Representative Michael Froman, a coalition of US environmentalists have expressed grave concern over the United States plan to haul India at the WTO to open its solar market by urging him to not compromise on the long-term growth of the solar market for limited near-term gain. The US move would in turn entail in hampering the fight against climate change.
Environmentalists, WTO Case, solar, WTO’s dispute settlement body, Michael Froman, solar market , climate change, Barack Obama, renewable energy development
The WTO’s dispute settlement body in Geneva is scheduled to hear the US case for a panel against India this Friday. Froman back in February had made the intentions of President Barack Obama’s administration very clear that the United States wanted to work with India on fighting climate change but India’s decision to use only locally made products in its solar industry was impeding the process.
Paying due heed to a UN scientific panel’s warning of catastrophic consequences from climate change, 15 groups including the Sierra Club, 350.org and the US branches of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have now written a letter to Froman expressing their displeasure over America’s move. “To avert climate disaster, countries must significantly scale up renewable energy development and deployment, just as India is currently doing,” the letter said. “The US should not compromise the long-term growth of the solar market just so that it can achieve limited near-term gain,” it added.
