Barack Obama climate push to tie environment, jobs : White House adviser

President Barack Obama will renew his push to spur investment in renewable energy projects that create jobs as a key part of his second-term strategy for tackling climate change, a top White House policy adviser said on Thursday.

This time around, though, Obama won't have the $90 billion in economic stimulus funds that his administration earlier pumped into clean energy and "green jobs" projects.

Instead, Obama wants to see "targeted and smart" investments in research and demonstration projects, and will also use the upcoming corporate tax reform process to try to "level the playing field" for renewable forms of energy, said Brian Deese, deputy director of the National Economic Council.

Obama's first-term clean energy efforts were tarnished by failed loans to companies like Solyndra, the California solar panel maker that went bankrupt in 2011 after receiving more than $527 million in government backing.

But Obama has continued to argue that the United States cannot fall behind in a global clean energy race dominated by countries like China, South Korea and Germany, which heavily subsidize their domestic industries.

"Our political system and our private sector are never going to operate in the way that some of those countries operate to strategically support targeted industries and go all-in in that way," Deese told a National Journal/The Atlantic event on energy innovation.

"The question for us is, how do we have an American-style approach that actually leverages the strengths that we have, while not ceding the race completely?" Deese said.

CREATING JOBS WHILE TACKLING CLIMATE ISSUES

Obama made a passionate pledge in his second inaugural address on Tuesday to combat climate change, citing recent fires, drought and storms, "knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations."

While those words attracted a lot of attention, what came next in the speech was also important, Deese said - Obama's contention that the nation must use more "sustainable energy sources" to maintain its "economic vitality" as well as to protect the environment. "We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries, we must claim its promise," Obama said.

... contd.

ALSO READ

Diesel price hiked by Re 1 per litre, get ready to pay more for the drive

Outsourcing business in India in danger after $45 mn global ATM fraud hits MasterCard

Apollo Tyres Q4 net profit down 9.4% at Rs 142 cr in fourth quarter

Walmart probe: ED asks DIPP to clarify rules on FDI retail