UN General Assembly grants Observer status to International Solar Alliance.

Why in news?

• Six years after being jointly launched by India and France, the International Solar Alliance (ISA) has got an ‘Observer’ status in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) which will help this treaty- based international organisation usher in a new era of green diplomacy for increasing solar power roots as a part of larger goal to face the challenges of climate change.

About International Solar Alliance (ISA)

• The International Solar Alliance (ISA) was launched by Prime Minister of India Narender Modi and former French president Francois Hollande in November 2015 at the 21st session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP-21) in Paris.
• The ISA primarily consists of an Assembly, Secretariat and different committees. The Assembly of the alliance is the apex decision-making body and the Secretariat is responsible for its operations and functioning.
• The body is funded by voluntary contributions by its members, partner countries, the UN and the private sector, while revenue is generated from specific activities approved by the Assembly.
• The body aims to scale up solar energy applications, take coordinated action through programmes and activities launched on a voluntary basis and facilitate collaborative research and development activities in solar energy technologies.
• The ISA is a coalition of solar resource-rich countries that lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
• The alliance was formed with the aim to promote solar energy in 121 member countries and to mobilise over $1 trillion of investment for the deployment of solar energy at affordable costs. It is the first inter-government organisation headquartered in India, in Gurugram.