President Donald Trump has directed the United States to exit the International Solar Alliance (ISA), headquartered in Gurugram, which promotes solar energy use to combat climate change. The White House stated that the ISA was one of the 66 international entities the US withdrew from, citing actions contrary to US national interests. Trump, a skeptic of climate change, targeted various organizations, including the ISA, with climate and environment-related missions.
The ISA, established in 2015 by India and France with 124 signatories, aims to secure $1 trillion in solar energy investments and advance related technologies by 2030. Led by Director-General Ashish Khanna, the alliance had around 100 full members. The US contributed $2.1 million to the ISA between 2022 and 2025, as per a US government database, to support solar deployment in developing nations under the US-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership.
Among the entities Trump singled out for withdrawal were 31 UN-affiliated organizations, including the United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change responsible for the Paris Climate Agreement. Additionally, non-UN bodies, including those focusing on climate change and the environment, were affected. Notably, the International Panel on Climate Change, once led by India’s Rajendra Pachauri during its Nobel Peace Prize-winning year in 2007, was among the targeted organizations.
In 2016, the US committed to joining the ISA following discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then-President Barack Obama. The move to exit the ISA is part of Trump’s broader disengagement from international bodies with climate and environmental mandates.
