International Solar Alliance launches new research journal at COP26

The India-led International Solar Alliance (ISA), an intergovernmental treaty-based international organisation, on Monday joined hands with research publishing and information analytics major Elsevier at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow to launch a new journal to enhance research on the use of solar power.

'Solar Compass' released its first official call for papers to authors around the world at the launch event attended by ISA Director-General Ajay Mathur and France's Ambassador for Climate Stephane Crouzat.

The new publication is planned as an open-access journal, providing readers around the world with freely accessible articles.

"We are very proud to launch 'Solar Compass', an important vehicle to increase understanding and research on the use of solar power," said Dr Mathur.

"The journal will cover new technology, policy and economic developments to increase access to clean energy; successful case studies from around the world that could be replicated elsewhere. It is one of the important tools for delivering solarisation and faster global energy transition," he said.

All articles will be peer-reviewed before publication, and an advisory board of visionary leaders will guide the direction of the journal, alongside an editorial board of globally recognised experts who will plan, solicit articles, and conduct reviews before accepting the articles for publication.

"There is not one silver bullet to achieve the net-zero goal. It will require a multi-pronged approach on new, innovative and more efficient technologies, lower-cost manufacturing at scale, investments at scale to support entrepreneurship in new technologies, and financing at the consumer end to ensure adoption, while also taking care of the global societal issues to ensure access for all people of the world," said Yogi Goswami, Distinguished Professor and Editor-in-Chief of 'Solar Compass'.

The focus of the new journal will be on sharing transformative information on policy, financing, technology and case studies with stakeholders, and filling the gap in information needed to accelerate the use of solar energy.

The ISA's stated mission is for a rapid increase in solar energy usage so that the global community can achieve an ambitious goal of net-zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century, in order to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

It admits that achieving this target will be an incredible challenge, but it is essential to avoid the catastrophic impacts of climate change.

The journal launch follows ISA's "Green Grids Initiative  One Sun One World One Grid (GGI-OSOWOG)" as part of a bilateral agreement announced between India and the UK at the COP26 climate summit in Scotland last week, formally unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Boris Johnson.

The GGI is dubbed as an evolutionary step forward in the ISA's multilateral drive to foster interconnected solar energy infrastructure at a global scale.