A new coalition is being formed to accelerate the
decarbonization of shipping, transportation, and other heavy industries that
collectively represent 30 percent of global emissions. Launched today at the
Davos Agenda as part of the World Economic Forum, the Mission Possible
Partnership brings together over 400 companies, along with their customers,
suppliers, bankers, shareholders, and regulators, to build pathways to
net-zero.
Run by the Energy Transitions Commission, Rocky Mountain
Institute, the We Mean Business coalition, and the World Economic Forum, the
Mission Possible Partnership goal is to accelerate decarbonizing heavy industry
and transport by unifying the critical actors. With initial funders include the
Bezos Earth Fund and Breakthrough Energy, the partnership will help more
industries mobilize resources, align across a greater number of organizations,
and accelerate the efforts to achieve decarbonization.
“The number of countries announcing net-zero emissions
targets by 2050 has grown during 2020 and is significant,” said Dominic
Waughray, Managing Director, World Economic Forum. “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.”
The partnership will build on the Mission Possible Platform,
which launched at the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit
in 2019, using 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.
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.
“To decarbonize 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.”
The seven platforms under formation in the partnership focus
on shipping, aviation, trucking, chemicals, steel, aluminum, and cement. In
shipping, 157 companies have already engaged with the Getting to Zero Coalition
to ensure the viability of zero-emission vessels along deep-sea trade routes by
2030. They are working to build the infrastructure for scalable zero-carbon
maritime energy.
The aim of the Mission Possible Partnership is to showcase
net-zero agreement breakthroughs in shipping, aviation, trucking, chemical, and
steel sectors by late 2021. Within three years, it hopes to help companies
complete climate action agreements for these seven sectors covering 30 percent
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.