via weforum.org
The First Movers Coalition, launched by the World Economic Forum and the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry at COP26, has expanded from an initial 35 companies to 55 companies, with a collective market value of about $8.5 trillion.
They aim to jump-start the market for low-carbon technologies by committing to purchasing a percentage from suppliers using near-zero or zero-carbon solutions, despite paying a premium.
India, Japan and Sweden join the US government on the Steering Board of the Coalition, while Denmark, Italy, Norway, Singapore and the UK have all committed to policies that will commercialize the green technologies these companies commit to purchasing.
Two new sectors were also launched by the First Movers Coalition at a press conference at the Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos: carbon dioxide removal – technologies the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says are essential to limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5⁰C – and aluminium.
These join aviation, shipping, steel and trucking that were launched in Glasgow at COP26 – and which, together with other heavy industry, are responsible for 30% of global emissions.
Speaking at the press conference, John Kerry said the initiative would “kick everybody into a higher gear” to meet climate pledges made in Glasgow. “The IEA made it clear that after we left Glasgow with 65% of global GDP committed to plans that legitimately hold the earth’s temperature increase at 1.5C degrees, then we have to bring the other 35% on.
read more