The Fifth Assembly of the International Solar Alliance will be held in New Delhi from October 17 to 20. India holds the office of the President of the ISA Assembly.

Ministers, missions and delegates from 109 Member and Signatory Countries are set to participate in this meeting. The Assembly will be presided over by R.K. Singh, Union Minister for Power, New and Renewable Energy. 

International Solar Alliance

• International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an inter-governmental treaty-based organisation with a global mandate to catalyse solar growth by helping to reduce the cost of financing and technology.

• The ISA was jointly launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande on November 30, 2015, in Paris on the sidelines of the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the UNFCCC.

• The ISA Framework Agreement was opened for signature on November 15, 2016, in Marrakech, Morocco, on the sidelines of COP22.

• With the signing and ratification of the ISA Framework Agreement by 15 countries on December 6, 2017, ISA became the first international inter-governmental organisation to be headquartered in India.  

• On March 11, 2018, Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron co-hosted the founding conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

• Membership is open to those solar resource-rich states that lie fully or partially between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, and are members of the UN.

• ISA was conceived as a coalition of solar-resource-rich countries (which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn) to address their special energy needs. 

• The vision and mission of the ISA is to provide a dedicated platform for cooperation among solar-resource-rich countries, through which the global community, including governments, bilateral and multilateral organisations, corporates, industry, and other stakeholders, can contribute to help achieve the common goal of increasing the use and quality of solar energy in meeting energy needs of prospective ISA member countries in a safe, convenient, affordable, equitable and sustainable manner.

• At present, 109 countries are signatories to the ISA Framework Agreement.

• ISA has been positioned to help create the conditions that would make funding, developing and deploying solar applications on a large scale a reality. 

• ISA is now perceived as key to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and objectives of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

• ISA is partnering with multilateral development banks (MDBs), development financial institutions (DFIs), private and public sector organisations, civil society, and other international institutions to deploy cost-effective and transformational solutions through solar energy, especially in the least Developed Countries (LDCs) and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Objectives of ISA:

• To address obstacles that stand in the way of rapid and massive scale-up of solar energy.

• To undertake innovative and concerted efforts for reducing the cost of finance and cost of technology for immediate deployment of competitive solar generation.

• To mobilise more than $1,000 billion of investments by 2030. 

• Reduce the cost of finance to increase investments in solar energy in member countries by promoting innovative financial mechanisms and mobilising finance from institutions.

• Scale up applications of solar technologies in member countries.

• Facilitate collaborative research and development (R&D) activities in solar energy technologies among member countries.

• Promote a common cyber platform for networking, cooperation and exchange of ideas among member countries.

Fifth Assembly of the ISA

• The Assembly is the apex decision-making body of ISA, in which each Member Country is represented. This body makes decisions concerning the implementation of the ISA’s Framework Agreement and coordinated actions to be taken to achieve its objective.

• The Assembly meets annually at the ministerial level at the ISA’s seat. It assesses the aggregate effect of the programmes and other activities in terms of deployment of solar energy, performance, reliability, cost and scale of finance.

• The Fifth Assembly of the ISA will deliberate on the key initiatives of ISA on three critical issues of energy access, energy security, and energy transition. 

• It is expected to lead to a greater consensus among countries for promotion of solar power. Increased international cooperation will be the backbone of energy transition, propelling investment and creating millions of new green jobs in this crucial decade of climate action.

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