Seizing India’s moment in the sun : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

Seizing India’s moment in the sun

ON January 25, 2016, French President Francoise Holland and Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the headquarters of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on the premises of the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), Gurgaon.

Seizing India’s moment in the sun

President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of the Interim Secretariat of the ISA in Gurgaon, in January this year. PTI



Bharat Desai

ON January 25, 2016, French President Francoise Holland and Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the headquarters of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on the premises of the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), Gurgaon. It was an epoch-making event. It became the first such global initiative by India that has also brought in the headquarters of such a global “alliance”. It heralds the arrival of India to seize initiative to address global environment and energy problems. 

The location of ISA on Indian soil is the culmination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s  announcement on the opening day of the 21st meeting of Conference of Parties (COP21) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris. It heralded a giant step in our evolution to launch a global effort to tap the unlimited reservoir of solar energy and “draw on the beneficence of the sun”. Since time immemorial, sun (Aditya) has always been worshipped across civilisations. 

The coming together of the countries blessed with abundant solar energy round the year appears to have sounded the beginning of the end of the sordid saga of fossil fuels on the planet Earth. It is significant that the initiative marks visibility and leadership for India, finally driven by realisation of immense potential of solar energy. In fact, the Indian pledge to the Paris COP21 aims to draw 40 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, even as the country is projected to have the world’s largest population of 1.45 billion. It seems like a good omen for cutting-edge search for harnessing renewable energy resources. The solar initiative has come at a time when the world is battling with worst fears about climate change. Solar energy can be harnessed with zero emissions. Going the solar way provides a big fillip to move away from fossil fuels and contributes to the realisation of universal access to clean energy by 2030, under goal 7 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Paris Declaration for launch of ISA became a watershed event since India has become instrumental in taking this global initiative as “common platform for cooperation among solar resource rich countries lying fully or partially between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn”. The declaration explicitly declared the intention of 121 solar-rich countries to “support India’s proposal”.   

India unveiled the National Solar Mission in 2010 with a “target of deploying 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022”. Now, this target has been pegged at installing staggering 100GW of solar power by 2022. Hence seizing of a global solar initiative is a major move to queer the pitch of climate change negotiations that has evolved to cover Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC). It is in this backdrop that the advent of Solar India positions her not only to reap leadership dividend, but also to ensure a pathway to solar light for millions of Indians who have no access to electricity. Will it bring about proverbial solar justice? It remains to be seen.

The floating of an “alliance” at this critical juncture is a diplomatic masterstroke. Interestingly, the nomenclature ISA has been described as “provisional and subject to change”. This opens avenue for India again to chisel the original idea so as to move in the direction of a formal World Solar Organisation (WSO). The sevenpage working paper that provided a basis for ISA, contains some contours to formalise a loose “alliance” into an international organisation. It can be a functional entity to address the special energy needs of solar resource rich countries as well as “provide a platform to collaborate on addressing the identified gaps through a common, agreed approach”. At the same time, the provisional entity called ISA will supplement efforts of other actors such as International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), International Energy Agency (IEA), Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21). It underscores the central catalytic role that a solar organisation would play on the global energy arena in the coming years.

It is in this context that the current ISA will need to metamorphose into a WSO to become a full-fledged international organisation. It will need to have its own treaty that will formalise the entity. WSO would have an assembly of parties as a plenary organ, a council as an executive organ as well as subsidiary bodies such as a science and technology council, a funding mechanism to promote research in solar energy, besides a dispute-settlement mechanism. It could emulate examples of functional international organisations in areas such as labour, health, trade, tourism, meteorology and intellectual property. However, such functional WSO will need to be innovative and sui generis, being driven by unique factors and membership criteria. In turn, the entity having its own constituent instrument could be brought into ‘relationship’ with the United Nations as one of the ‘specialised agencies’ under Articles 57 and 63 of the UN Charter. A cursory look at the history of 16 existing ‘specialised agencies’ shows variations in  mandates, functions and funding patterns. It is remarkable that ISA has projected the mobilisation of more than $1,000 billion of investments needed by 2030 for the “massive deployment of affordable solar energy”. 

The advent of this inter-governmental global solar movement takes place at a critical juncture. The Indian hand in floating the idea, conceptualising and hosting the entity shows the capacity of India to emerge as a potential ‘solar power’. In the impending cutting-edge solar technology revolution, India is set to play a pivotal role, giving an impetus to massive solar energy generation domestically.

To play a decisive role, India will need to work out a blueprint on the drawing board for the unveiling of a WSO. Not having been used to such a leadership challenge in the recent past, India needs to walk the talk of ensuring “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”. Seizing the solar crystal ball seems all set to provide a basis for Indian leadership in the global “battle of ideas”. It remains to be seen if we rise to the challenge and reach out to the knowledge reservoir in our higher educational institutions to vindicate claims for showing the way to the world. 

  

The writer is a Professor of International Law, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Top News

Relief for Delhi CM, High Court bins plea for his ouster

Relief for Delhi CM, High Court bins plea for his ouster

Special court extends Kejriwal’s ED custody till April 1