India-led International Solar Alliance in new pact to speed up energy transition

GLASGOW: India-led International Solar Alliance (ISA) on Wednesday, November 3, 2021, announced a partnership with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), for accelerating energy transition in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The partnership - announced at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow -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: Power - reaching one billion people with reliable, renewable energy; Climate - avoiding and averting four billion tons of carbon emissions; and Jobs - building an on-ramp to opportunity by directly creating more than 150 million jobs.

"We're excited to be partnering with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet as part of our ongoing mission to accelerate our mission to solarize the world by 2030," said Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, International Solar Alliance.

"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," he said.

The ISA chief said through the new partnership with the GEAPP, 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 LDCs and 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,” he added.

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.

The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet was launched during the COP26 World Leaders Summit (WLS) on Tuesday, simultaneously also announcing a Call for Proposals, which will incorporate a mechanism to ensure countries submitting energy access and energy transition proposals receive technical advice throughout the process to maximise viability and implementation success.