At Marrakech, over 20 countries sign India's ambitious initiative - International Solar Alliance

As the joint high level segment of the Marrakech climate talk was underway here, over 20 countries signed the framework agreement of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) here on Tuesday -- India's ambitious programme of bringing 120 countries closer.

ISA was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year along with French President Francois Hollande at COP21, the Paris climate summit.

The Framework will be kept open as many more countries are expected to join in the coming days. It will enter into force with ratification by 15 countries.

"This will make ISA an innovative, action oriented and sui generis international and intergovernmental Treaty-based organization that will be registered under Article 102 of the UN charter," the Indian Environment Ministry said here in a statement.

The signing ceremony was held here at Es Saadi Gardens, a venue other than Bab Ighli here. The Marrakech Climate Change Negotiations will go on till November 18.

Interestingly France was not among the signatories.

An important aspect of ISA is striving to keep the operating costs minimal and therefore not necessitate mandatory contributions.

As per several agencies including International Renewable Energy Agency (IREA)l, the cost of solar PV cells will drop by 60 per cent by 2025.

On the occasion, Union Minister for Environment Anil Madhav Dave expressed gratitude to the Heads of State and representatives from prospective member countries of the ISA. He said that within 11 months of launch, ISA activities have increased significantly, and many initiatives are under implementation.

With legal framework in place ISA will be a major international body headquartered in India. He also thanked the Government of France for its continued support.

He further added that creating common buyers' market for solar finance, technology, innovation, capacity building etc., will lead to higher quality, lower costs, products better tailored to needs, collaborative innovation, and technology ownership.

India's domestic solar programme is one of the most ambitious and largest in the world with targets of achieving 175 Giga Watts as the renewable energy by 2022 of which 100 GW is solar.

(Kushagra Dixit is in Marrakech at the invitation of TERI to cover COP-22. He can be contacted at kushagra.d@ians.in)

--IANS

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