WSDS 2026 Thematic Track: The Next Solar Frontier: Circularity, Resilience & Responsibility

(i) Background

The global clean energy transition has reached a defining moment. Solar energy has emerged as the cornerstone of global decarbonization, delivering unprecedented growth in installed capacity, affordability, and energy access. By 2024, global solar PV installations surpassed 1.86 terawatts (TW), of which 761.8 GW—nearly 41 per cent—has been deployed across the 120+ Member Countries of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). This rapid scale-up represents one of the most successful technology transitions in modern history. Yet, as solar deployment accelerates toward universal solarization, a new sustainability frontier has emerged— the need to manage solar PV systems and batteries across their full lifecycle, particularly at end-of-life (EoL).

Solar PV modules and battery energy storage systems have finite operational lifetimes. Over the next two to three decades, early-generation installations will begin to retire at scale. ISA projections indicate that global solar PV waste could reach 124 million metric tonnes (MMT) by 2049, with 51.8 MMT arising within ISA Member Countries alone. This challenge is no longer distant; it is approaching rapidly and requires action now, even as deployment continues to accelerate. At present, the state of play reveals a growing imbalance. Solar PV and battery deployment is expanding faster than lifecycle governance systems. Policy frameworks for waste management remain fragmented or absent, standards for reuse, recycling, and safety are uneven across regions, and traceability across solar and battery value chains remains limited.

Within this broader transition, batteries have emerged as a particularly critical and material-intensive component of clean energy systems and electric mobility. The rapid scale-up of lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) has exposed challenges related to critical mineral dependence, fragmented value chains, safety risks, and end- of-life management. At the same time, batteries offer significant opportunities for second-life applications, which can extend asset lifetimes, reduce demand for virgin materials, and enhance system resilience. Recognizing both the risks and opportunities associated with battery scale-up, ISA—together with Customized Energy Solutions (CES)—has developed the report Emerging Battery Technologies: Advancing Recycling Guidelines for Lithium-ion Batteries. The report positions recycling guidelines as a cornerstone of circular economy principles, enabling material recovery, local value creation, and shared stakeholder responsibility.

Against this backdrop, the solar sector stands at a crossroads. The question is no longer whether solar can scale—but whether it can scale responsibly, resiliently, and circularly.

This track is designed to shift the global conversation: from linear deployment to circular solar systems; from reactive end-of-life handling to designing for durability, reuse, and recovery; and from waste as a burden to waste as a strategic resource. The session will also serve as the official platform for the launch of ISA’s Emerging Battery Technologies: Advancing Recycling Guidelines for Lithium-ion Batteries under SUNRISE (Solar Upcycling Network for Recycling, Innovation & Stakeholder Engagement)—ISA’s global platform to operationalize its Solar PV and Battery Waste Management Programme. Through SUNRISE, ISA seeks to connect governments, industry, recyclers, innovators, and financiers to transform end-of-life challenges into opportunities for new industrial growth, green jobs, and sustainable resource management.

(ii) Objectives of the thematic track

• Position circularity as the next solar frontier: Encompassing design for disassembly, reuse and repurposing, traceability, and responsible material recovery across the battery lifecycle.
• Advance Harmonized Guidelines and Standards: Explore the need for common, globally aligned guidelines and standards across the solar and battery value chain, and identify key regulatory and policy gaps that must be addressed to enable circularity at scale
• Clarify Responsibility and Accountability: Foster shared responsibility among policymakers, manufacturers, developers, recyclers, and financiers.
• Move from Dialogue to Implementation: Anchor discussions in actionable tools, including the launch of ISA’s Battery Recycling Guidelines under SUNRISE.

(iii) Questions - 3-4 questions that will guide the discussions.

• How do we shift solar growth from a linear model to a circular system? What common guidelines and standards are needed—across manufacturing, deployment, and end-of-life—to ensure solar and batteries scale sustainably?
• Where are the most critical policy and standards gaps today? What is missing in current regulatory frameworks, and how can countries align energy, industrial, and environmental policies without slowing solar deployment?
• How can battery traceability be operationalized at scale? What role can digital product passports play in enabling traceable batteries, transparent value chains, and effective recycling and second-life use?
• Who is responsible for solar and battery waste—and how is responsibility shared? How can accountability be fairly distributed across governments, manufacturers, developers, and recyclers to move from voluntary action to systemic implementation?

About the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS)

The World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) is the annual flagship Track II initiative organized by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). Instituted in 2001, the Summit series has a legacy of over two decades for making ‘sustainable development’ a globally shared goal. The only independently convened international Summit on sustainable development and environment, based in the Global South, WSDS strives to provide long-term solutions for the benefit of global communities by assembling the world’s most enlightened leaders and thinkers on a single platform. The 25th edition of the annual flagship event of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)—the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS)—will be held from 25-27 February 2026 in New Delhi. The deliberations of the Silver Jubilee edition of the Summit will focus on the umbrella theme of Parivartan: Transformations: Vision, Voices and Values for Sustainable Development.