Exactly eight years ago India teamed up with France to launch the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on the first day of the Paris meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP).
This took the world by surprise, which till then believed that India naysaying could sabotage the crucial talks to battle climate change.
Indeed, this was the coming out moment for Indian climate diplomacy, which till then had been siloed as a perennial critic and naysayer. It also ensured India a passage to the global high table as an entity seriously committed to fighting global climate change.
This so-called alliance of sunshine states—falling between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn–is made up of mostly countries from the global South. It provides another platform for India in its bid to be the champion of the global South.
How will all this play out? And has the ISA lived upto its initial hype? To answer this and more we spoke to Vyoma Jha, India Clean Energy Senior Advocate, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
