International Solar Alliance

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is a treaty-based intergovernmental organisation conceived jointly by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President François Hollande, and launched on 30 November 2015 at the COP21 climate summit in Paris. Its Framework Agreement was opened for signature on 15 November 2016 at Marrakech (COP22) and entered into force on 6 December 2017 after the requisite fifteenth ratification. The ISA Secretariat is headquartered at the National Institute of Solar Energy campus in Gwalpahari, Gurugram, Haryana — making it the first treaty-based international organisation headquartered in India. Originally membership was confined to nations lying fully or partially between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, but a 2018 amendment to the Framework Agreement (effective 2021) opened membership to all member states of the United Nations, broadening its reach beyond the "sunshine belt."

The Alliance's stated objective is to mobilise over USD 1,000 billion in investment by 2030 to deploy 1,000 GW of solar capacity, reducing the cost of solar technology and finance for member states. It functions through an Assembly (its apex decision-making body, which meets annually), a President and Co-President, and a Director-General who heads the Secretariat. Its flagship programmes address scaling solar applications for agricultural use, affordable finance at scale, mini-grids, solar rooftops, and solar e-mobility. The ISA also launched the "One Sun One World One Grid" (OSOWOG) initiative — unveiled by India at the 2021 COP26 in Glasgow alongside the UK's Green Grids Initiative — to interconnect regional power grids for transnational solar electricity transmission. Its Solar Risk Mitigation Initiative and Global Solar Facility seek to de-risk and crowd in private capital, particularly for Africa.

By 2026 the ISA has grown to over 120 signatory countries with more than 100 having ratified the Framework Agreement; France serves as a founding co-anchor and India hosts the body. The UN General Assembly granted the ISA observer status in 2021 (Resolution adopted December 2021), and the Alliance has signed a partnership with the United Nations system to advance Sustainable Development Goal 7 (affordable and clean energy). Successive Assembly sessions have approved programmes for solar-powered cold chains, green hydrogen, and the SolarX startup challenge for Africa. The ISA is widely cited as an instance of Indian "climate diplomacy" and a vehicle for South-South cooperation.

For the UPSC examination, the ISA is a high-frequency topic in Prelims (current affairs and environment) and in GS Paper III (environment, energy security) and GS Paper II (international institutions, India's foreign policy) of the Mains. Prelims questions typically test factual specifics: its headquarters location, the year of launch and entry into force, the founding partner (France), the tropics-based membership criterion and its subsequent amendment, and its distinction as the first treaty-based body headquartered in India. Mains and interview angles probe the ISA as an instrument of India's soft power and climate leadership, its linkage to the Paris Agreement and India's Nationally Determined Contributions, and the OSOWOG vision. Candidates should not confuse the ISA with the Indian Space Research Organisation or with the Indian Standards Association.