India to host first International Solar Alliance summit
India is going to host first International Solar Alliance (ISA) summit in March 2018 in New Delhi. It will be hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by leaders from over 50 member countries. It will include French President Emmanuel Macron, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid. During the summit, two new programmes — on scaling solar e-mobility and storage, and on rooftop solar will be inaugurated.
International Solar Alliance (ISA)
The ISA was one of key takeaways at Paris Climate summit, 2015 (2015 UN Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11). It is aimed at tapping solar energy in the countries that lie partially or fully between Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. ISA is first treaty-based intergovernmental organisation (entered into force in December 2017) to be headquartered at Gurugram, India.
Its major objectives include global deployment of over 1,000GW of solar generation capacity and mobilisation of investment of over US $1000 billion into solar energy by 2030. It also aims to bring together countries with rich solar potential to aggregate global demand, thereby reducing prices through bulk purchase, facilitating deployment of existing solar technologies at scale and promoting collaborative solar R&D and capacity building.
Month: Current Affairs - February, 2018