Alternative clean energy is India’s future: Hillary Clinton

Ahmedabad: Alternative clean energy is India’s future and “it would not burden the country” but generate more income for local communities, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday. Sustainable climate solutions should be adopted in our day-to-day life, she said, speaking at a townhall event titled “Insights from Her Journey” at the Indian Institute of Technology-Gandhinagar (IITGN) near here.

“Alternative clean energy is India’s future, and it would not burden the country, but instead, it can reduce costs and generate more income for the communities,” a statement issued by the IITGN quoted her as saying.

“Today India is well-positioned to adopt clean energy to achieve economic growth,” Clinton said, citing the example of women she met on Monday at a salt pan farm in Gujarat’s Surendranagar district who use solar-powered pumps.

The opportunity for India to be a leader in clean energy is “dramatically available” as it can bring down costs and decentralise clean energy using creative thinking and scientific know-how of institutions like IITGN, she added.

The former US First Lady, who is on a Gujarat visit from Sunday, said the whole world should come together and try to cooperate and prepare for new challenges posed by climate change. Sustainable solutions should be adopted in our day-to-day lives, Clinton added. To a question from a student about takeaways from the coronavirus pandemic, she spoke about the importance of building a better public healthcare infrastructure that does not collapse during emergency, better communication of public health messages and better supply chains, among other things.