Innovation only way to both go green & grow'
Vishwa Mohan
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Paris:
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Microsoft founder Bill Gates has backed PM Modi's case for India's growth, saying it will be unfair to ask developing countries to shift to low carbon strategies as long as clean energy costs much more than fossil fuels. He added that vigorous innovation was the ation was the only way to close the gap.Gates told TOI that slowing down development to go green is a difficult trade-off. “So if you say to a developing country like India because of green reasons you slow down the development, that is a very difficult thing as we know development can save lives, provide education to kids, take care of health, and there are so many benefits of energy usage”.
Pitching the merits of the coalition of 28 of the world’s wealthiest investors that he helped launch here, Gates said initiatives like Breakthrough Energy Coalition can make a big difference. “The only way you can achieve both goals (fighting climate change and boosting economic growth) is to have innovation that brings down the premium for clean energy ideally to zero or even invent a source of energy which is cheaper then coalbased energy ,“ he said. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates's argu ments are in sync with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India is not responsible for global warming and needs carbon space to grow to pull millions out of poverty and provide electricity, transport, housing, education and health. India has called for subsidised transfer of green technology and asked developed nations to accept higher carbon control targets in keeping with historical responsibilities. “As long as the energy that is green (or zero CO2 energy) costs a lot more than say coal-based energy then you are asking countries to make a very difficult trade off,“ Gates said.
The Breakthrough Energy Coalition is an international group that includes India's Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani and is intended to promote research for delivering affordable and reliable carbon free power.
Gates expressed the hope that the number will grow further and efforts would result in providing solutions to the world where poor and developing countries do not have to comprise on economic growth and poverty eradication. The coalition was launched in Paris together with the `Mission Innovation', an initiative of 20 governments, including the US, India, France, UK, Germany , China, Japan and Australia.
Asked about Indian partners of the coalition, Gates said that when he approached Mukesh (Ambani), he was very quick to say he was enthused. “Reliance is a very fast moving and technologyoriented industry . ...It is good that his (Mukesh Ambani) company is involved in this (the Coalition). It's fantastic,“ he said. About Ratan Tata, Gates -co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation tan Tata is somebody said, “Ratan Tata is somebody I know through his philanthropic works and I really admire him. It was a big boost to have him agree“. He noted that Ratan Tata, in fact, talked to University of California and brought it on board.
Besides Tata and Ambani, Jack Ma of China's Alibaba Group, Richard Branson of UK's Virgin Group, Meg Whitman of HP , Vinod Khosla of US' Khosla Ventures, Chris Hohn of UK's The Children's Investment Fund and the University of California are among the investors in the Gates-led coalition on global warming.
Pitching the merits of the coalition of 28 of the world’s wealthiest investors that he helped launch here, Gates said initiatives like Breakthrough Energy Coalition can make a big difference. “The only way you can achieve both goals (fighting climate change and boosting economic growth) is to have innovation that brings down the premium for clean energy ideally to zero or even invent a source of energy which is cheaper then coalbased energy ,“ he said. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates's argu ments are in sync with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India is not responsible for global warming and needs carbon space to grow to pull millions out of poverty and provide electricity, transport, housing, education and health. India has called for subsidised transfer of green technology and asked developed nations to accept higher carbon control targets in keeping with historical responsibilities. “As long as the energy that is green (or zero CO2 energy) costs a lot more than say coal-based energy then you are asking countries to make a very difficult trade off,“ Gates said.
The Breakthrough Energy Coalition is an international group that includes India's Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani and is intended to promote research for delivering affordable and reliable carbon free power.
Gates expressed the hope that the number will grow further and efforts would result in providing solutions to the world where poor and developing countries do not have to comprise on economic growth and poverty eradication. The coalition was launched in Paris together with the `Mission Innovation', an initiative of 20 governments, including the US, India, France, UK, Germany , China, Japan and Australia.
Asked about Indian partners of the coalition, Gates said that when he approached Mukesh (Ambani), he was very quick to say he was enthused. “Reliance is a very fast moving and technologyoriented industry . ...It is good that his (Mukesh Ambani) company is involved in this (the Coalition). It's fantastic,“ he said. About Ratan Tata, Gates -co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation tan Tata is somebody said, “Ratan Tata is somebody I know through his philanthropic works and I really admire him. It was a big boost to have him agree“. He noted that Ratan Tata, in fact, talked to University of California and brought it on board.
Besides Tata and Ambani, Jack Ma of China's Alibaba Group, Richard Branson of UK's Virgin Group, Meg Whitman of HP , Vinod Khosla of US' Khosla Ventures, Chris Hohn of UK's The Children's Investment Fund and the University of California are among the investors in the Gates-led coalition on global warming.
Source: Times of India, 02-12-2015
