The alliance issued a declaration vowing to mobilise more than $1 trillion (940 million euros) in investment by 2030 for the “massive deployment” of affordable solar power.
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Modi during his speech yesterday urged developed countries to recognise the challenges faced by developing nations in dealing with the impacts of climate change and asked them to meet the financial commitment of $100 billion per year 2020 onwards. Under pressure from home and overseas over growing intolerance in India, it is the Indian prime minister who is more in the need of showing a softer side.
Also jetting in to attend the conference are former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed the landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which has greatly increased energy costs, and current Gov. Jerry Brown, who, before leaving California, blasted Republican governors and members of Congress for denying climate change. These include Areva, Tata Steel and HSBC. The Prime Minister presented “Convenient Action”, a book he has written on the Gujarat experience with solar energy and a music CD with songs on the environment to Mr. Hollande.
Together with China and the US, India is one of the top polluters in the world.
India’s plans for increasing solar power capacity are among the world’s most ambitious. “It will ensure that the energy access and energy scarcity situation, which India and a number of developing countries are grappling with is addressed on a war footing”, Srinivas Krishnaswamy of Vasudha Foundation, an NGO, said. In India, solar prices are down from the highs of Rs 18 per unit to Rs 4.60 per unit, making it competitive with power sourced from coal. Even in India, the price of solar electricity is likely to become very competitive in comparison to coal or other sources of energy once the new solar plants being installed now are operational. “It lies in our unwillingness to let go of views that divide society into them and us, pure and impure”, Mukherjee said on the 62nd convocation of Gujarat Vidyapith, a university in Ahmedabad. Most British solar companies require only a few more years of stable support to reach competitiveness but are now faced with uncertainty. “This will be a good opportunity to flood rural parts of the world with solar energy”. Pointing to the interest in the alliance, Upendra Tripathy, Secretary, Ministry of Renewable Energy said, “Of the 121 countries that are interested in the solar alliance, 88 were present at the inaugural including the heads of state or government from 28 countries, and ministers from another 23 countries were present”. We joined 19 countries in committing to double our own clean energy R&D budget in the next five years.
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Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, the founders of Microsoft and Facebook, have also launched the breakthrough energy coalition, an investment platform that will fund clean energy technology.
