Mr. Kerry, on his first trip to India as secretary of state, was joined here by Ernest Moniz, the secretary of energy, and other senior American officials.

In his speech, Mr. Kerry sought to make the case that protecting the environment could be consistent with India’s economic development by improving energy efficiency and spurring investment in green technology. The United States, he said, would announce an effort to improve the energy efficiency of India’s air-conditioners.

But Mr. Kerry appeared to stop short of committing India to some sort of negotiated international regime to phase out HFCs, though he alluded to the possibility.

“We can also work together to globally phase down hydrofluorocarbons,” he said, “and eliminate the equivalent of roughly two years’ worth of current global emissions by the year 2050.”

Mr. Kerry also pleaded with India to commit to working constructively on a global treaty to be negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. India has shown some reluctance to fully engage in the negotiations, out of fear that a global regime would impose the greatest cost on countries least able to afford them. The 190-plus signatories to the United Nations climate convention have agreed to complete a new treaty with binding legal force by the end of 2015.

Mr. Kerry tried to reassure India that any such pact would take its needs into account. “I am convinced that we can move toward a global agreement that puts us on track to avert the most dangerous climate change, that is sensitive to and respectful of the diversity of national circumstances and capabilities, and that is fair, pragmatic and can actually evolve with changing circumstances,” he said.

The visit comes at a time of some tension on trade in relations between the United States and India.