Bloomberg Philanthropies and the International Solar Alliance have announced they are partnering in an effort to mobilize $1 trillion in global investments over the current decade in support of solar energy across ISA member countries.

The organizations will kick off the partnership by working with the World Resources Institute to develop a Solar Investment Action Agenda and a Solar Investment Roadmap, which will be launched at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) and in 2022, respectively. The partnership builds on a pledge by UN special envoy Michael R. Bloomberg to take at least one climate action per day in the days leading up to COP26, which opens in Glasgow, Scotland, on October 31. According to a BloombergNEF report, Scaling Up Solar in ISA Member Countries (81 pages, PDF), electricity demand is expected to triple over the next three decades in seventy-five underdeveloped ISA countries, while in the next five years, the cost of utility-scale solar is expected to drop by almost 20 percent. Released this week at the BNEF Summit London ahead of the Fourth International Solar Alliance Summit, the report also found that the COVID-19 pandemic reduced 2020 investment in solar projects by 44 percent, though levels seem to have rebounded in 2021; however, to capitalize on the benefits of solar energy, trillions of dollars in private investment need to be mobilized and the right policy frameworks need to be put in place.

Drawing on the BNEF analysis, Bloomberg Philanthropies, ISA, and WRI will work together to ensure that ISA member countries and partners agree on the necessary pathways for scaling investment and commit to catalyzing $1 trillion toward solar energy by 2030. Moreover, the report will serve as the analytical backing for the Solar Investment Action Agenda, which will propose high-impact opportunities for rapidly scaling the delivery of financial mechanisms to meet solar technology needs in different countries, and the Solar Investment Roadmap, which will provide clear scaling goals and metrics to measure progress toward the investment.

"Solar energy will play an enormous role in the transition to a more sustainable future but it has to be equitable," said WRI president and CEO Ani Dasgupta. "Only 2 percent of solar investment is going into Africa, even though the continent has vast solar potential and a large number of people without electricity access. We need to make solar investment real to the millions of people who have been left behind. This partnership will identify opportunities for the public and private sector to collaborate and scale solar investment to make this transition possible."

"Global energy demand is rapidly rising, especially in developing countries, and the price of solar power is rapidly falling — but there is not enough of it being deployed," said Bloomberg. "Fixing that requires more collaboration across the public and private sectors, and more data to identify challenges and opportunities — and both will be central to this effort. By speeding up investment in solar power, this new partnership will help to curb the carbon emissions that are heating the planet — while also spurring economic growth, creating jobs, and reducing costs for the public."

(Photo credit: Bloomberg Philanthropies)