Union Cabinet approves ratification of International Solar Alliance

The Union Cabinet gave its approval to the proposal of Union Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) for ratification of International Solar Alliance (ISA) Framework Agreement by India.
The Agreement was opened for signature on the sidelines of 22nd Conference of Parties (CoP) meeting United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at Marrakesh, Morocco.
The Agreement invokes the Paris Declaration on ISA and encapsulates the vision of the member nations. Till now, 25 nations have signed the Framework Agreement. World Bank and UNDP also have announced their partnership with the ISA.

About International Solar Alliance (ISA)

• ISA was launched jointly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of France François Hollande in November, 2015 at Paris on the side-lines of the 21st CoP meeting of UNFCCC.
• It is brainchild of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is also India’s first international and inter-governmental organization comprising 121 Countries.
• ISA strives to bring together more than 121 solar resource rich tropical nations lying fully or partially between two tropics for coordinated research, low cost financing and rapid deployment.
• Its headquarters are located in Gwal Pahari, Guragaon in Haryana. The institutional structure consists of an Assembly, a Council and a Secretariat (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.
• India has already committed the required support of operationalization of ISA. It will put India globally in a leadership role in climate and renewable energy issues.

For more details: International Solar Alliance (ISA)

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2016