The International Solar Alliance (ISA) has announced the appointment of Ajay Mathur as its new director general following his election at a virtual assembly.
Mathur is currently director general of the Energy and Resources Institute and has previously held senior positions at India’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency and the Green Climate Fund. He will start his new role on 15 March, replacing Upendra Tripathy, who has served as ISA director general since its foundation in 2015.
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Mathur said the alliance “has a vital role” in helping to establish the infrastructure needed for a zero-carbon emission future, adding: “With strong foundations already in place, my immediate focus is to identify and mobilise the opportunities and capital to accelerate our solarisation goals in the interim and long-term.”
Launched at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, ISA provides a platform for cooperation through which the global community can contribute to help increase the deployment of solar energy. Currently a coalition of 73 member countries, the organisation recently expanded its membership scope to allow all United Nations states to join.
With the US’s renewed clean energy focus from the Biden administration as well as the COP26 Climate Change Conference that will take place in the UK in November, ISA said Mathur’s appointment comes in a year when addressing climate change commitments “will take centre stage”.
COP26 president Alok Sharma said: “I am delighted that Dr Ajay Mathur, an invaluable friend of COP26, is taking up this important post. The International Solar Alliance has been a key partner in driving the international collaboration we need to a low carbon future, and I look forward to working together ahead of COP26 this November.”