PM Modi 'wholeheartedly' welcomes US to ISA, says it will further strengthen alliance

PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday, 10 November, “wholeheartedly” welcomed the United States to the India-led International Solar Alliance. The idea of the ISA - an intergovernmental treaty-based international organisation - was first pitched by PM Modi during the 2015 COP summit where several countries had agreed to develop a network to work on reducing dependency on fossil fuels and move towards solar energy as an alternative to the former. On Wednesday, the US became the 101st member of the ISA, a development that will further strengthen the Alliance’s shared quest of harnessing solar energy for a sustainable planet, according to PM Modi.   

It is to mention that the ISA’s stated mission is for a rapid increase in solar energy usage so that the world can achieve an ambitious goal of net-zero carbon emission by the middle of the century, in a bid to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5C. The Alliance admits that achieving this target will be an incredible challenge. However, it also believes that it is essential to avoid the catastrophic impacts of climate change. 

Meanwhile, PM Modi’s remarks came after Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupendra Yadav disclosed the development on Twitter with a post where he wrote, "Happy that now USA is formally a part of International Solar Alliance, a visionary initiative launched by PM Shri @narendramodi Ji in 2015 at Paris COP. The number of countries who are now part of @isolaralliance is now 101 (sic)". In the following tweet, Yadav also informed that the parties discussed issues like Climate Finance, Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and its adaptation and more.

US 'pleased' to join the ISA

Separately, US representative John Kerry asserted that America is “pleased” to join the alliance. In a Twitter post, Kerry lauded Yadav and PM Modi for “championing this important endeavour”. He also said that accelerating solar energy deployment across the globe is important in a bid to keep a limit of 1.5C of warming within reach. 

On Monday, the ISA had 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. According to PTI, the new publication is planned as an open-access journal, providing readers 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 ISA Director-General Ajay Mathur. 

(With inputs from PTI)