India, US start $50m fund for clean technology

The United States and India announced a joint $50 million fund to promote research in clean energy technologies on Wednesday, a step seen as part of efforts to whittle down their differences over how to fight climate change.
The fund will help establish the Indo-US Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Centre, which will finance academia, institutions and industry from both countries to undertake the research.
"This is the first collaborative research effort of its kind, where Indian and US researchers will be jointly selected," US Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer said in a statement.
"It elevates the US-India clean energy cooperation to a new level and is a testament to the strength of our continued strategic partnership."
In the global fight against climate change, two of the world's most populous democracies sit on the opposite end of the debate, their differences a major hindrance in achieving an international agreement on curbing global warming.

Under existing rules, only rich countries have to meet binding emissions targets and report actions regularly. But developed nations led by the United States, which never ratified Kyoto, want emerging economies such as China and India to take on a greater share of climate actions.