20 nations sign framework agreement of International Solar Alliance

Over 20 countries, including India, Brazil and France have signed the framework agreement of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
The framework agreement of ISA was opened for signatures on the sidelines of CoP22 to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at Marrakech, in Morocco.
The signing of the framework agreement has to be followed by ratifications by countries.  The agreement will become operational after at least 15 countries have ratified it.

About International Solar Alliance (ISA)

• ISA was jointly launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande at CoP21 in Paris in November 2015.
• The initiative is brainchild of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is India’s first international and inter-governmental organization comprising 121 Countries.
• ISA is an alliance of 121 solar resource-rich tropical countries lying fully or partially between two tropics and who are also UN members.
• The institutional structure of ISA consists of an Assembly, a Council and a Secretariat. The secretariat of the ISA is to be located in India.
• Its members will take coordinated actions through programmes and activities that will aggregate demands for solar finance, solar technologies, innovation, R&D and capacity building.

What are objectives of ISA?

• Boost global demands which will result in further reduction in prices of solar energy deployment.
• Boost R&D, particularly in areas of efficient storage systems.
• Promote standardisation in the use of equipments and processes for generating electricity. Standardisation will make the manufacturing of equipments and other hardware cheaper.

What is purpose of ISA?

• More than 120 countries are geographically located in the tropics i.e. between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, either fully or partially.
• These places get ample sunlight throughout the year, making solar energy easily available resources.
• These countries also happen to be ones where maximum growth in energy demand in the coming years, but their current production is woefully short of requirement.
• Thus, the ISA will ensure that as these countries rapidly ramp up their electricity production, predominantly by using clean solar energy and avoid fossil fuels.
• It is also an attempt to accelerate the global demand for solar energy and gives India an opportunity to take global leadership in the fight against climate change.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2016