The launch of the ISA was announced by the prime minister and Francois Hollande on 30 November 2015, at the 21st session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Paris
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav with John Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, after the US agreed to join the ISA. Image Courtesy: @byadavbjp/Twitter
The United States on Wednesday became the 101st member country of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) to catalyse global energy transition through a solar-led approach.
“In a big boost to accelerate global adoption of solar energy, John Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate announced at the UNFCCC COP26 that the United States of America (USA) has joined the International Solar Alliance (ISA) as a member country,” read the release from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
“We are happy to join the International Solar Alliance, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the lead in making,” said Kerry.
Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav said, that this move will “strengthen the ISA and propel future action on providing a clean source of energy to the world.”
“Happy that now the USA is formally a part of the ISA, a visionary initiative launched by PM Narendra Modi in 2015 at Paris COP. The number of countries who are now part of ISA is now 101”, tweeted Yadav.
“Move will strengthen the ISA and propel future action on providing a clean source of energy to the world,” added Yadav.
Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, the ISA said, “The US’ endorsement of ISA’s framework and approach is a heartening development, especially as our 101st member nation, which is a significant milestone in itself, demonstrating that nations across the world are recognising the economic and climate mitigating value of solar, as well as this energy source’s potential as a catalyst for global energy transition,” added the release.
The launch of the ISA was announced by Prime Minister Modi and Francois Hollande, former French president on 30 November 2015, at the 21st session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP-21) in Paris.
Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended the launch, alongside the heads of about 120 nations who affirmed their participation in the Alliance to dedicate efforts for the promotion of solar energy.
The framework was first circulated for countries’ support in 2016. The framework emphasises delivering global relevance and local benefit to all countries through collaborations, with ISA’s key interventions focusing on readiness and enabling activities, risk mitigation and innovative financing instruments to facilitate the promotion and deployment of solar technologies in target markets, said the release.
The approach and methods detailed in the framework have already delivered results, with ISA building a solar project pipeline of nearly 5 GW installed capacity. The approach detailed in this framework will culminate in a vision for interconnected global grids, which was formalized and jointly launched as the ‘Green Grids Initiative – One Sun One World One Grid‘ (GGI-OSOWOG), during the World Leaders Summit of the COP26 in Glasgow on 2nd November 2021 by the UK Presidency of COP26 and India Presidency of International Solar Alliance (ISA).
Earlier at COP26, the United States also joined the Steering Committee of the GGI-OSOWOG comprising of five members — USA, Australia, France, the United Kingdom, and India — and endorsed the One Sun Declaration along with 80 countries.
United States of America’s Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm had said that “the Grid-Sun combination will save the planet. The GGI-OSOWOG is focusing on the two most important pieces of the puzzle. We at the US Department of Energy are happy to be a partner with GGI-OSOWOG.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the US joining the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and said this will further strengthen the alliance in its shared quest of harnessing solar energy for a sustainable planet.
Modi, tagging Kerry’s previous tweet, said, “Wonderful news @ClimateEnvoy! I thank @POTUS and wholeheartedly welcome the USA to the @isolaralliance.”
“This will further strengthen the alliance in our shared quest of harnessing solar energy for a sustainable planet,” Modi said.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Twitter, “More power to solar! A very warm welcome to USA as it joins the International Solar Alliance at #COP26 today. With this, USA becomes the 101st country to sign the framework agreement of the @isolaralliance.”
With inputs from ANI and PTI