Speaking to reporters before his departure to France to attend a global climate summit currently underway in the French capital, environment minister Thoriq described an underwater cabinet meeting held by Nasheed’s administration in 2009 as a media stunt. “What did we achieve from that? … Instead, what we [the current government] is doing is yielding positive results,” the minister said, during the press conference at the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA). Nasheed and his cabinet ministers, clad in scuba gear, convened underwater -- the first such meeting that took place underwater -- ahead of the landmark climate summit in Denmark in 2009 and signed a declaration which Nasheed took along with him to the talks in Copenhagen. In March 2009, his government announced that the Maldives would, within 10 years, become the world's first ever fully carbon-neutral nation with an array of eco-energy projects. In late 2009, TIME magazine chose Nasheed as one of the Heroes of the Environment. During Nasheed’s visit to New York in 2009, he was one of the eight world leaders chosen by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to address the UN summit on climate change. Nasheed also addressed the High-Level Climate Summit of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), which was the first summit of the AOSIS coalition held at heads of state or government level. A US-based film company also made a documentary on Nasheed's environmental efforts. The documentary film, named The Island President, featured the efforts of Nasheed to tackle rising sea levels resulting from climate change. It received positive reviews. Nasheed is currently serving a 13-year prison sentence for ordering the arrest of chief criminal judge Abdulla Mohamed during his presidency. The former president’s lawyers have stepped up their efforts to impose targeted sanctions against the Maldives and its leadership, following a UN panel ruling late September declaring his imprisonment as arbitrary. Government’s criticism of Nasheed comes as it dispatched its environment to Paris to attend the COP21 summit which began Monday. Before his departure from Male, minister Thoriq vowed to not give into big countries during the summit. Maldives proved its leadership in environmental issues Monday with the country becoming the first to join an international solar alliance at the global climate summit currently underway in France. India’s prime minister launched the international solar alliance of over 120 countries with the French president, François Hollande, at the Paris COP21 climate summit. The environment ministry announced on twitter Monday evening that the Maldives had become the first signatory to the international solar alliance. The tweet was backed by a similar announcement on twitter by the foreign ministry. India’s prime minister Narendra Modi told a press conference Monday that as fossil fuels put the planet in peril, hopes for future prosperity in the developing world now rest on bold initiatives. “Solar technology is evolving, costs are coming down and grid connectivity is improving,” he said. “The dream of universal access to clean energy is becoming more real. This will be the foundation of the new economy of the new century.” Modi described the solar alliance as “the sunrise of new hope, not just for clean energy but for villages and homes still in darkness, for mornings and evening filled with a clear view of the glory of the sun”. While signatory nations mostly hail from the tropics, several European countries are also on board with the initiative, including France. The Indian government is investing an initial $30m (£20m) in setting up the alliance’s headquarters in India. The eventual goal is to raise $400m from membership fees, and international agencies. Companies involved in the project include Areva, Engie, Enel, HSBC France and Tata Steel. The Indian initiative, called the International Agency for Solar Technologies and Applications (Iasta), aims to spread cheap solar technology across the globe with pooled policy knowledge. “We share a collective ambition to undertake innovative and concerted efforts aimed at reducing the costs of financing and urgent technological deployment for competitive solar facilities throughout our country,” a membership statement by the alliance says. It adds that the alliance will “pave the way for production technologies and storage of solar energy, adapted to the specific needs of our country”. The Maldives' lead in joining the solar initiative led by its closest neighbour and ally India came hours after its president urged world leaders gathered in France to ensure that the outcome of the ongoing climate change summit in the French capital should address the full scope of the crisis. In his message for the opening day of the COP21 summit, President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom said world leaders can no longer overlook the steep costs of inaction against climate change. Even with pledges for climate action from over 160 countries, including the world’s biggest emitters, the world still faces a rise in global temperature of 2.7 degrees celsius or more by the end of the century, he warned. “The Paris agreement must therefore address the full scope of the crisis,” the message read. “This should begin with ambitious commitments from all parties, coupled with a robust process to drive bolder actions year after year, in order to keep temperatures below 1.5 degrees celsius - the scientifically affirmed threshold for a safer climate. The president noted that certain climate impacts can no longer be managed by cutting emissions or through adaptation. He said an international mechanism on loss and damage must be a distinct element of the Paris package and lead to real action on the ground in the countries that need it most. According to the president, building renewable energy systems and adapting to impacts in developing countries will require an annual investment of at least US$100 billion by 2020. The Green Climate Fund has begun to deliver much needed resources, he noted, adding that it must be continually scaled up in the years to come.