'India, France to focus on generating carbon-free energy'

New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius Tuesday called for greater Indo-French cooperation, with a focus on carbon-free energy generation, to tackle climate change.

Fabius underlined five concrete areas of cooperation, saying many countries in Europe have developed low-carbon industry which needs to be extended to India.

"India and France will work on five concrete areas of cooperation. These are (i) cooperation on generating carbon-free energy with emphasis on new technology, (ii) developing partnership on civil nuclear-free energy, (iii) generating carbon-free electricity, (iv) developing an Indo-French water network, and (v) sharing technology and know-how on urban development in India and making cities greener," Fabius said here.

He was speaking at a discussion on "Sustainable development in response to climate change".

He said France has announced a credit line of 1 billion Euro to India to be released in the next three years.

"The credit line is to enable India to have sustainable infrastructure and urban development," Fabius said.

He warned climate change is not a distant threat as is evident in rising water level and melting of glaciers.

"Climate change is real and it is here now. It is caused by us. But it is still possible to avert it and we must all work to that end," Fabius said.