Global solar alliance an interesting initiative
The global solar alliance, launched on Monday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with President François Hollande at the ongoing UN climate change summit in Paris, is a remarkable initiative. Housed within the International Agency for Solar Policy and Application, the alliance aims to bring affordable solar energy to all as part of the larger global effort to fight climate change.
If successful, it will not just help India and the other developing countries that are part of the programme, defend their people from the ravages of climate change and safeguard their economic upliftment, it will be an important step towards, clichéd as this may sound, saving the only planet that we call home. Notably, the alliance is India's first major global diplomatic initiative on a ‘hard' policy issue since non-alignment. Yes, there was the International Yoga Day earlier, but while that effort was hugely successful, it had more symbolic value.
It will be fair to say, however, that the skills and experiences the Government gained with IYD are being sharpened with the solar alliance — putting together a project like this wherein so many countries have to be brought on the same page on a contentious issue, requires enormous diplomatic muscle. That India has been able to deliver on this count adds to its credibility as an aspiring great power. It shows that India is not just trying to fit itself into existing structures or complaining about existing narratives; it’s also doing its bit to shape a new global architecture.
Here, it is important to understand the backdrop against which the solar alliance has been established: The grouping comes at a time when there is increasing pressure on emerging economies like India to ‘go green' —even though these countries, with significantly lower per capita carbon emissions, are yet to have their own decades of unhindered industrialisation of the sort that brought prosperity to the Western world. This issue is at the heart of the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, which everybody supports on paper but is highly contested by the West in reality.
All these years, India has fought back against ‘exceptional' demands imposed upon it, but now it too realises that the unfavourable nature of the climate change discourse notwithstanding, it has to make the extra effort to go green — because not doing so will be detrimental to its citizens, thousands of whom live on the frontlines of the climate change war. Moreover, the global economy is moving towards renewable sources of energy, and swimming against the tide, beyond a point, will make little sense — think of how funds dry-up in the fossil fuel sector will impact coal companies.
In this situation, the Modi Government has done well to embrace the challenge and, hopefully, deal with it on its own terms. Currently, the biggest problem with solar energy in particular and renewables in general is that the technology for large-scale use at affordable rates is not available. Sure, the situation is improving, but there's still a long way to go. This is where it helps to bring on board other solar-rich countries and put up a collective front. This will also help all partners to effectively utilise the huge amount of funds and technology that is becoming available in this sector in a mutually beneficial manner.