She explained that here both the UN member-states and the private sector have an important role to play in this agenda and partnership is central to it. “In terms of the cooperation, we believe at the UN and that North-South cooperation will help tremendously. Southside collaboration is very crucial for these partnerships, and being in India, speaking as the UNDP Deputy Representative, we are working very closely with the government of India. This country plays a key role for both North-South and South-South cooperation,” she said, speaking at The Energy Transition Dialogues being organised by the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) in New Delhi. The event is being held from November 1-3.
Sharing the best practices is obviously a good step but there is a need to share challenges and failures, said the UN official. Further, it is important to build a platform to share resources between solar-rich countries of the Global South.
“I would like to mention one specific initiative led by India. It’s the International Solar Alliance. I think this is just one example of this North-South and South-South cooperation in the framework of the sustainable development agenda. ISA is doing several key measures. One of them is facilitating the exchange of knowledge and expertise among solar-rich countries in the Global South through best practices technologies,” said Tschan.
The solar alliance is also collaborating with financial institutions to create affordable energy access and is building a platform for technology transfer, she said.
“Another important point is that it is important that the solutions shared are practical. They are open source and they can be adopted in other countries, but at the same time, that’s a key obstacle. You need to (have) the capacity in the other countries where you want to apply the solutions. And before coming to India three months ago, I was serving for UNDP in Burkina Faso and I saw that it is not easy to transfer all these technologies. I think the regulatory framework is of key importance, the incentives through government regulation and then capacity building. This is also an element we are focusing on,” she added.
