By Susitha Fernando

Colombo, Dec 22 (IANS): Former Norwegian politician and diplomat, Erik Solheim has said that Sri Lanka can achieve the advantages of renewable energy similar to countries like India and China.

Participation at a recent discussion on the country's environment and energy in Colombo, Solheim, who is also the Adviser to Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe on International Climate Change, stressed that the two Asian giants (India and China) have strong advantages of renewable energy.

Solheim, the former UN Environment Executive Director and UN's Under-Secretary General has explained about future energy sources such as concessional climate finance, carbon credits, carbon markets, renewable energy and hydrogen with the officials present for the discussion.

Following the discussion, the President's Office announced that Sri Lanka has focused on bringing in foreign investors who reduce climate change to Sri Lanka.

"The government's plan is to bring in foreign investors to achieve the three goals, achieving a 70 per cent renewable energy target, achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, and exploring the international market for carbon emission permits," President's Media Division said.

Participated by government officials in the environment and energy sector, Presidential Adviser on Climate Change, Ruwan Wijewardene has said that the renewable energy sector was rapidly growing and there were a large number of such investors in Europe, America, Canada and other countries.

He has pointed out that those investments should be brought in so that the people of Sri Lanka will be benefitted, and close attention should be paid to this while formulating policies.