New Delhi: France on Thursday termed India's initiative of launching International Solar Alliance (ISA) as a 'political project' which has strengthened the bonds between both the countries to fight climate change.
India and France up in arms to fight against climate change The observation was made during the 2nd Assembly of International Solar Alliance in New Delhi by France Minister of State for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition, Brune Poirson.
Years after Washington decided to withdraw itself from the "2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation", France Minister Poirson said that India and France are committed to combatting climate change.
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"US is about to leave the Paris agreement, as they have only regretted...and now it gives us hope that we have a very strong partner India to fight against climate change...this is a political project," said Poirson on the sideline of second Assembly of the ISA.
Reacting over her statement, Minister for New and Renewable Energy, RK Singh said that the formation of ISA is very important for the global fraternity.
"ISA was set up by India and France for environmental protection. Climate change is a challenge for us and we hope with the efforts in ISA we will be able to fight against climate change," said Singh.
In 2017, US President Donald Trump has announced that US would cease all participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation as the withdrawal would help American business and workers.
The US decision, however, generated a global debate.
In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former France President Francois Hollande launched ISA, a treaty-based intergovernmental organisation in Paris.
Foundation of ISA was based to fight against climate change. It also aims to provide a dedicated platform for cooperation among solar resource-rich countries and the wider global community-including bilateral and multilateral organisations - to put to support the increasing use of solar energy.
As on date, 83 countries have signed the Framework Agreement of ISA. Of these, 58 countries have ratified the same.
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Officials in the Ministry for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said that India stands among the top five countries of the world in terms of solar energy capacity and total renewable energy capacity.
"With over 82 GW renewable capacity on the ground and about 70 GW at a different stage, India is well in the way to realize the ambitious target of 175 GW by 2022," said officials.
India has been providing all support to realise ISA's vision and objectives. The government has allotted 5 acres of land to the ISA in National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) campus at Gurugram. India has also released a sum of Rs 160 crore for creating a corpus fund, building infrastructure, and meeting day to day recurring expenditure of the ISA up to the year 2012-22.
As per commitment, India will release an additional Rs 15 crore in the year 2020-21. India has also set aside US$ 2 Billion for solar projects in Africa out of Government of India's US$ 10 Billion concessional Line of Credit (LoC) for Africa.
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