India, France re-elected as President, Co-President of International Solar Alliance
Oct 14, 2020
New Delhi [India], October 15 : India and France were re-elected as the President and Co-President of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), for a term of two years at the virtual meeting of the Third Assembly, informed the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
According to an official release, while speaking in the plenary, the President of the ISA Assembly, India's Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister, RK Singh, appreciated the Alliance members coming together to work for combating climate change and welcomed the seventh initiative on heating and cooling to be introduced for discussion in the Third Assembly.
Singh said that solar energy has come a long way in last 5 years and is now the fastest-growing energy source globally. He said, "Solar energy is already contributing around 2.8 per cent of global electricity, and if trends were to continue, by 2030, solar will become most important source of energy for electricity production in a large part of the world."
The ISA President also mentioned various activities and programmes initiated by ISA since the 2nd Assembly.
According to the release, the Co-President of the Assembly, Barbara Pompili, France's Minister for Ecological Transition underlined that ISA played an essential role to help redirect funding towards renewable energies, particularly in developing countries, and take up the challenge of an energy at the service of all.
She further reiterated France's involvement, pointing out that of the 1.5 billion euros of financing France committed for solar projects in ISA member states up until 2022, 1.15 billion euros has been committed to concrete projects.
The Third Assembly of the ISA has been attended by 34 ISA Members ministers. As many as 53 member countries and 5 signatory and prospective member countries had participated in the Assembly, as per the official release.
During the meeting, four new Vice-Presidents were also chosen to represent the four regions of ISA. The representatives of Fiji & Nauru for Asia Pacific Region; Mauritius & Niger for Africa Region; UK & Netherlands for Europe and others Region, and Cuba and Guyana for Latin America and Caribbean Region assumed the vice presidency.
The Assembly also approved the initiatives of the ISA Secretariat in institutionalising ISA's engagement with the private and public corporate sector through the Coalition for Sustainable Climate Action (CSCA). Ten public sector organisations in India presented a cheque for 1 million USD each at the assembly.
The President of the 26th edition of United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP-26), Alok Sharma, recalled the commitment of the United Kingdom to fight climate change, and discussed key priorities.
For the first time since the inception of the framework agreement of ISA, Solar awards were conferred on countries of the region as well as institutions working for solar.
The ISA is an initiative that was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former France President Francois Hollande on 30 November 2015 in Paris, France on the side-lines of the COP-21.
The overarching objective of the ISA is to collectively address key common challenges to the scaling up of solar energy in ISA member countries.
It also aims to undertake joint efforts required to reduce the cost of finance and the cost of technology, mobilise investments needed for massive deployment of solar energy, and pave the way for future technologies adapted to the needs.
