Back to news
23 Jul 2025 | Press releases

International Solar Alliance and ICIMOD join hands to accelerate solar energy deployment in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Colombo, Sri Lanka – 17 July 2025

1 min Read

70% Complete
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between ICIMOD and ISA by Pema Gyamtsho, Director General of ICIMOD, and Ashish Khanna, Director General of ISA. Avishek Malla, Energy Specialist, represented Pema Gyamtsho at the event.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the International Solar Alliance (ISA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to foster cooperation in scaling up solar energy solutions across the common member countries.

The MoU formalises a strategic partnership aimed at promoting decentralised solar technologies, improving energy access in remote mountain communities, and supporting climate-resilient development in the common member countries. Through this collaboration, ISA – a treaty-based global intergovernmental organisation dedicated to advancing solar power adoption for a carbon-neutral future – and ICIMOD will work together to identify scalable solar interventions across sectors, co-develop proposals, projects and programmes, strengthen technical capacity and technology transfer, and facilitate knowledge sharing and advocacy among common member countries.

Pema Gyamtsho, Director General of ICIMOD, stated, “This partnership with ISA marks a significant step toward bringing clean, reliable, and context-specific solar solutions to the mountains. It reinforces our shared commitment to sustainable energy transitions and climate resilience in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region.”

Ashish Khanna, Director General of ISA, emphasised, “Our MoU with ICIMOD, signed at ISA’s 7th Regional Committee Meeting in Colombo, supports our strategy to move from Ambition to Action through Productive Use of Renewable Energy (PURE) initiatives across the Hindu Kush Himalaya, beginning with the ISA Country Partnership Strategy for Bhutan as a pioneering model for mountain-focused renewable energy transitions, as part of our broader engagement.”

The partnership aligns with both organisations’ vision to accelerate the uptake of renewable energy, contribute to national climate goals and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and promote regional cooperation for a greener, more equitable future.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Neraz Tuladhar (Raz), Media Officer
Email: media@icimod.org

Stay current

Stay up to date on what’s happening around the HKH with our most recent publications and find out how you can help by subscribing to our mailing list.

Sign Up
5 Dec 2023 Press releases
Right Honourable Mr Ram Chandra Paudel, President of Nepal, attends celebrations to mark 40 years of ICIMOD

Kathmandu, [5 December 2023] – The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) marks four decades of catalysing sustainable development in the complex ...

8 Nov 2023 COP28
ICIMOD plays key role at first global summit on Earth’s mountain glaciers and poles

Representatives from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) will play a key role at the first One Planet ...

30 Jul 2019 SERVIR-HKH
Regional drought outlook system for South Asia launched

Droughts do not harm immediately. Their impact on lives and productive assets is gradual, which is perhaps why they do ...

13 Feb 2015 Press releases
Regional water-energy-food nexus workshop held in Kathmandu

A South Asia Regional Fulbright Alumni Workshop on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus convened in Kathmandu on February 10-12, 2015. The workshop ...

12 May 2025 Press releases
Requiem for a glacier: Tribute held in Nepal for one of the Hindu Kush Himalaya’s most-studied rivers of ice

Langtang’s Yala Glacier set to join growing numbers of glaciers around the world declared dead due to temperature rise ...

15 Dec 2020 Press releases
Honouring mountain champions

Kathmandu, 11 December 2020 Every year, the ICIMOD Mountain Prize is awarded to an individual, organization, or private sector entity based ...

7 Jun 2024 Press releases
Scientists sound alarm: Urgent action needed to protect mountain, downstream, and low-lying regions

Bonn, Germany, Friday 7th June: Leading scientists and representatives from countries in mountain, downstream, and low-lying regions have issued an ...