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 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.
US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry made the announcement alongside Bill Gates, founder of Breakthrough Energy, at a press briefing hosted by the World Economic Forum.
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.
These government partners will invite companies from their countries to join the coalition and will pursue public policies to commercialise the green technologies corporate members commit to purchasing.
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.
Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, said: “India has been at the forefront of climate change actions. The idea of LIFE — ‘Lifestyle For Environment’ — as highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the call for a global mass movement on sustainable lifestyles, is very critical for combating climate change.”
US Special Presidential Envoy Kerry said the purchasing commitments made by the First Movers Coalition represent the highest-leverage climate action that companies can take because creating the early markets to scale advanced technologies materially reduces the whole world’s emissions — not just any company’s own footprint.
