In news- India has joined the First Movers Coalition, a global initiative aimed at decarbonising the heavy industry and long-distance transport sectors.
About the First Movers coalition-
- It was launched by US President Joe Biden and the WEF at COP26 as a flagship public-private partnership to clean up the most carbon-intensive sectors.
- Besides India, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Norway, Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom have also joined the US as government partners to create early markets for clean technologies through policy measures and private sector engagements.
- These government partners will invite companies from their countries to join the coalition and pursue public policies to commercialise the green technologies corporate members commit to purchasing.
- The new corporate members include Alphabet and Microsoft, along with AES, Aveva, Ball Corporation, BHP, Consolidated Contractors Company, Ecolab, Enel, EY, FedEx, Ford Motor Company, HeidelbergCement, National Grid, Novelis, PWC, Schneider Electric, Swiss Re and Vestas.
- India, Japan, and Sweden also joined the steering board of the Coalition.
- Led by the WEF and the US government, the Coalition announced two new target sectors: carbon dioxide removal and aluminium, which join the four existing sectoral pledges (aviation, shipping, steel and trucking) launched at COP26.
- The coalition’s members have committed to purchasing out of their total industrial materials and long-distance transport spending – a percentage from suppliers using near-zero or zero-carbon solutions, despite the premium cost.
- During the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 in Davos, First Movers Coalition members Alphabet, Microsoft and Salesforce collectively committed $500 million to carbon dioxide removal (CDR).
Source: Business Standards
