Partnership Announced at Davos to Accelerate Shipping Decarbonization
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.