Environmental Groups Criticize USTR Actions on India's Solar Program
A dozen environmental organizations said they are concerned over U.S. accusations of trade discrimination in India’s solar program. “Challenging this program undercuts India’s efforts to pursue appropriate economic development and reduce poverty and to take urgently needed steps to tackle the pressing and shared challenge of climate change,” said the letter, sent to Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis March 20 and signed by the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Center for Biological Diversity and others. In February, USTR requested World Trade Organization dispute settlement consultations over India’s national solar program. The U.S. said the program’s forced localization requirements -- including requiring solar energy producers to use Indian-manufactured solar cells -- restrict U.S. access to India’s market (see 13020715).
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In the letter, the environmental groups said they support growing the U.S. solar industry, but not at the expense of India’s ability to develop its own. This is especially important in the global fight against climate change, the letter said. “We are troubled that climate policy may increasingly be determined by the [World Trade Organization] and similar arenas based on unfair or inappropriate trade law, rather than on climate science and the real-world necessities of building a green economy.”