Joshua Busby, Distinguished Scholar at the Strauss Center, co-wrote an essay for the 26th Volume of Energy Strategy Reviews. In his essay, “One more try: The International Solar Alliance and India’s search for geopolitical influence,” Busby analyzes the intention’s behind India’s cofounding of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) jointly with France at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference. The ISA is the first international organization headquartered in India and primarily aims to promote solar electricity in the sunshine belt of states mostly between the tropic of Cancer and tropic of Capricorn. India has had recent successes with the establishment of a fellows program to share lessons learned, solar export credits, and pooling credit risks for borrowing.
Although recent visibility and publicity suggests that India intends to use the ISA as an instrument for geopolitical influence, they are hampered by their limited capacity for financial support and lack of solar technology innovation or low-cost production. Busby theorizes a three-stage path to geopolitical influence and analyzes the respective challenges, including their domestic program, building effective partnerships, avoiding over-bureaucratization, and establishing added value. He then relates the concepts of leadership, status, and influence to set the stage for India’s desires for enhanced status. Finally, he reviews domestic solar policies and ISA actions and concludes with thoughts on their prospects and limits of fulfilling their strategy of becoming a global leader.
Read the full journal here.
Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar Joshua Busby recently co-authored a piece in The National Interest titled “No Easy Solutions to Europe’s Geopolitical Trilemma.” Busy examines the mounting strategic pressures facing the European Union as it seeks defense, economic, and energy autonomy amid growing uncertainty from Russia, China, and the United States. “Thankfully for Europe, it is wealthy enough to continue restricting...
Are you a current student (undergraduate or graduate) at the University of Texas at Austin, the Colorado School of Mines, or the U.S. Naval War College with an interest in critical minerals, national security, and the clean energy transition? You're eligible to write an essay of no more than 2,000 words on this topic for a $3,500 prize. The subject...
Dr. Joshua Busby, the former Senior Advisor for Climate at the U.S. Department of Defense and a Distinguished Scholar at the Strauss Center, recently spoke on The India Energy Hour Podcast, addressing questions regarding India’s energy security while phasing down inefficient coal power plants. “If the international community truly prioritizes a clean energy transition in the Global South, including but not limited to India,...