The International Solar Alliance (ISA), an assembly of 124 countries initiated by India on November 30, 2015, at COP 21 in Paris, has made a big progress in the past few years; and recently at COP 26, the alliance has forged partnership with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) for accelerating energy transition in Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.
GEAPP has been launched during the COP 26 World Leaders’ Summit on November 2, 2021. This alliance will aim to: 1) Address carbon mitigation by avoiding over 3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases emission, 2) Provide energy access to 1 billion underserved people by extending clean and productive use of energy, and 3) Create millions of green jobs to alleviate poverty and spur economic growth.
The target behind forming partnership
The partnership will champion significant solar capacity generation globally while supporting grid-based and distributed renewable solutions. Over the next decade, it aims to unlock USD100 billion in public and private capital and tackle three profound human problems simultaneously: 1) POWER – reaching one billion people with reliable, renewable energy; 2) CLIMATE – avoiding and averting four billion tons of carbon emissions; and 3) JOBS – building an on-ramp to opportunity by directly creating more than 150 million jobs.
Commenting on this partnership, Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, ISA, said, “We’re excited to be partnering with the GEAPP as part of our ongoing mission to accelerate our mission to solarize the world by 2030. With the right investment and regulatory conditions, solar power has the potential to mobilize billions of dollars in green investments, empower billions of people while averting billions of tons of emissions.
Dr. Ajay Mathur
Director General, The International Solar Alliance (ISA)
The ISA is continuously looking at ways and means to support the socio-economic goals of our member countries. Through our partnership with the GEAPP, the ISA will create an enabling policy and regulatory environment by building capacity of government, convening and research, and provide best-in-class project development support to build a strong pipeline of investable solar projects. The partnership with GEAPP will provide much-needed support to Least Developing Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States(SIDS) Member Countries in the implementation of innovative solar projects and in building resilience in key sectors such as agriculture and health with solar. The projects supported through this partnership will also help enable faster replication across other countries.
Through a large host of such interventions, I am confident that this partnership will make measurable progress in bringing clean, renewable energy to underserved communities around the world.”
Need behind formation of GEAPP
Pinpointing at the current scenario, Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation, said, “The world is undergoing an economic upheaval, in which the poorest are falling farther behind and being battered by climate change’s effects. Green energy transitions and renewable electrification is the only way to restart economic progress for all while at the same time stopping the climate crisis. Providing people with an on-ramp to the modern economy while making real, measurable progress against the existential threat of climate change, the GEAPP is one of the boldest, most transformative initiatives in our history.”
Dr. Rajiv J. Shah
President of The Rockefeller Foundation
The action plan
As part of the engagement, ISA will act as a global delivery partner for GEAPP, providing project development and policy support across distributed renewable and grid-based energy transition in LDCs and SIDS member countries. More specifically, ISA is set to engage across the following four key areas enabling the breadth and depth of impact.
- Rallying governments to respond to GEAPP country partnership calls: ISA will leverage its political leadership and country membership to help countries develop proposals in response to GEAPP country-partnership calls. This is critical to creating a pipeline of investable projects for the GEAPP.
- Promoting the vision for global interconnected grids: ISA will continue to drive the grid-connectivity initiative through institutional set-up, pilot implementation and research combined with knowledge sharing.
- Build capacity of governments for enabling policy and regulation: ISA will create an enabling policy and regulatory environment by building the capacity of government, convening and research, and providing best-in-class project development support to build a strong pipeline of investable solar projects.
- Provide best-in-class project development: Finally, ISA will serve as GEAPP’s delivery partner, supporting with implementation planning, project development as well as technical assistance in the 10 to 15 least developed countries.
