India, US must pool their resources on energy and climate issues: Pachauri

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India and the US must pool in their resources to develop policies and solutions to address challenges being faced in the fields of climate change and clean energy, noted environmentalist and nobel laureate R.K. Pachauri has said.

"It is imperative for India and the US to pool their resources -- the skills, technological capabilities and innovativeness -- to develop policies and solutions to the challenges of energy security," Pachauri, director general of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) said in his address to the third India-US Energy Partnership Summit.

"This annual event highlights the importance of the US and India working together not only in dealing with global challenges in the energy sector for which innovations are of crucial importance. These would involve both incremental improvements and disruptive technologies which involve radical improvements," he said.

Richard C. Levin, president of Yale University, in his address said that institutions have to play a constructive role in dealing with energy security and climate change issues.

"The United States and India share a common future, and their commitment to a path of sustainable economic development and sustainable energy independence will be vitally important to their people and to the global community," he said.

In a video message, Al Gore, former US Vice-President and Nobel Prize winner, highlighting the wide-ranging effects of climate change, cited its impact on health and called for cooperation between the two countries in the areas of health issues.

Speaking on 'Policy Insights to Foster US-India Energy Cooperation," R.V. Kanoria, president Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said: "Energy security for a nation is of critical importance. Depleting resources demand a focus and sound policy framework for nurturing growth in renewable energy and for fostering technological innovation."

The day-long conference held here on Wednesday suggested that energy efficient buildings have a key role in saving energy and businesses and academia have to collaborate in innovating new ways of reaching to the bottom of the pyramid to ensure that people are raised from poverty level.

And experiences of businesses and industry in developing energy efficient methods should be exchanged and mechanisms developed to facilitate this.

It also suggested that technology transfer is vital for energy efficiencies and for developing countries to play their role in fighting the effects of climate change.

For this, new approaches to intellectual property regimes are needed and the developed countries need to finance programmes for this.