Two Indian companies join climate initiative at Davos Summit

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Two Indian companies, Dalmia Cement and Tata Steel, on Wednesday joined a new initiative launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos to accelerate the decarbonisation of heavy industry and transport. The Mission Possible Partnership (MPP), a new coalition formed to accelerate the decarbonisation of global industries representing 30 per cent of global emissions, was launched at the Davos Agenda.</p>
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Run by the Energy Transitions Commission, Rocky Mountain Institute, the 'We Mean Business' coalition, and the World Economic Forum (WEF), the MPP aims to accelerate several pathways for decarbonising heavy industry and transport by unifying the critical actors needed to influence and enable industry transformation at speed and scale.</p>
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The partnership builds on the success of the MPP which launched at the United Nations Secretary General's Climate Action Summit in 2019, and has grown from 30 companies in 2019 to 400, who all are committed to working on concrete actions towards net-zero. The partnership will help more industries mobilise resources, align across a greater number of organisations, and accelerate the 'race to zero'.</p>
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This initiative will help carbon-intensive sectors reach their targets and bring in the systemic change needed to succeed by providing a clear path to 'net zero'.</p>
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"The number of countries announcing net-zero emissions targets by 2050 has grown during 2020 and is significant," said Dominic Waughray, Managing Director, WEF.</p>
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"As well as more commitments, the key will also be implementation, so that our pathways are on track by 2030. This will likely require big collaborations and partnership between governments, industry, finance and innovation. It is something we can do together, and the launch of the partnership at the Davos Agenda will accelerate these efforts in the run-up to COP26 in November."</p>
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"To decarbonise the global economy, we must think and act like the global economy," said Nigel Topping, UK High-Level Champion, COP26. "The climate action system needs ambitious national pledges under the Paris Agreement and robust net-zero commitments from global industries. The Mission Possible Partnership aims to spur these commitments and create sectoral pathways to accelerate our progress in the Race to Zero."</p>
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The MPP is centered on the idea that the Paris Agreement, with its focus on national targets, will not generate the plans and solutions necessary to achieve efficient and effective transition strategies for global industries on its own.</p>
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The most important missing piece of the global climate action architecture is an effort by sectors, complementing country-centric strategies with action from global industries to unlock technology and energy transformation.</p>
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In late 2021, the partnership will aim to showcase net-zero agreement breakthroughs in shipping, aviation, steel, trucking, chemical, cement and aluminum sectors. Within three years, it hopes to help companies complete climate action agreements for these seven sectors covering 30 per cent of global emissions. Within five years, it aims for clear shifts in investment patterns across the seven sectors and will be pursuing net-zero climate action agreements in additional sectors, potentially food and agriculture.</p>
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It will be pertinent to recall that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the Global Climate Ambition Summit last December had shared that “India is not only on track to achieve its Paris Agreement targets, but is to exceed them beyond expectations. We have reduced our emission intensity by 21% over 2005 levels. Our solar capacity has grown from 2.63 GigaWatts in 2014 to 36 GigaWatts in 2020. Our renewable energy capacity is the fourth largest in the world.”</p>
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He averred that India’s renewable energy capacity will reach 175 GigaWatts before 2022 and 450 GigaWatts by 2030. “We have also succeeded in expanding our forest cover and safeguarding our biodiversity. And, on the world stage, India has pioneered two major initiatives, the International Solar Alliance and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.”</p>
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<em> (IANS)</em></p>