Global drive to clean up carbon-intensive sectors

Davos: India has joined the US-led First Movers Coalition, a flagship public-private partnership to clean up the most carbon-intensive industry sectors, from heavy industry to long distance transport. The coalition has announced a major expansion to more than 50 corporate members worth about $8.5 trillion and a total of nine leading governments, including the US, covering over 40 per cent of global GDP. In addition to the US government, the coalition welcomed India, Japan, and Sweden to the steering board, as well as Denmark, Italy, Norway, Singapore and the UK as government partners.

Led by the World Economic Forum and the US government, the First Movers Coalition targets sectors including aluminium, aviation, chemicals, concrete, shipping, steel and trucking, which are responsible for 30 per cent of global emissions - a proportion expected to rise to over 50 per cent by mid-century without urgent progress on clean technology innovations.

For these sectors to decarbonise at the speed needed to keep the planet on a 1.5-degree pathway, they require low-carbon technologies that are not yet competitive with current carbon-intensive solutions but must reach commercial scale by 2030 to achieve net-zero emissions globally by 2050.

To jump-start the market, the coalition's members commit to purchasing – out of their total industrial materials and long-distance transport spending – a percentage from suppliers using near-zero or zero-carbon solutions, despite the premium cost.

India has also taken global leadership with initiatives like the International Solar Alliance, One Sun One World One Grid, and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. We believe that the need of the hour is to strengthen technological innovation so as to have cost-effective climate technologies on a larger scale. The First Movers Coalition has a huge role to play in this and to achieve our climate goals. Borge Brende, World Economic Forum President, said: "The coalition's members are truly the 'first movers' who are focused on scaling disruptive innovations that pave the way for long-term transformation rather than the lower-hanging fruit of short-term process efficiency gains." "Once the tipping point is reached in the market, the First Movers Coalition will demonstrate that a net or near-zero transformation across the value chain is not only possible but that it will be no more expensive than the high-emitting alternative."