„Bid to decarbonise polluting sectors India joins clean tech lead group

Davos, May 25: India has joined the First Movers Coalition, a global initiative aimed at decarbonising the heavy industry and long-distance transport sectors responsible for 30 per cent of global emissions, US special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry announced on Wednesday.

Launched by US President Joe Biden and the WEF at COP26 as a flagship publicprivate partnership to clean up the most carbonintensive sectors, the initiative also saw 50 new corporate members with collective market cap of $8.5 trillion joining the force.

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.

India, along with Japan and Sweden, has also joined the steering board of the coalition.

Kerry made the announcement alongside Bill Gates, founder of Breakthrough Energy, at a press briefing hosted by the World Economic Forum here during its Annual Meeting 2022.

Piyush Goyal, minister of commerce and industry, consumer affairs, food & public distribution and textiles, said, "India has been at the forefront of climate change actions. The idea of LIFE "Lifestyle For Environment"—as highlighted by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi and the call for a global mass movement on sustainable lifestyles, is very critical for combating climate change."

India has also taken global leadership with initiatives like the International Solar Alliance, One Sun One World One Grid, and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.

"We believe that the need of the hour is to strengthen technological innovation so as to have costeffective climate technologies on a larger scale. The First Movers Coalition has a huge role to play in this and to achieve our climate goals," Goyal added.

Led by the WEF and the

US government, the First Movers Coalition targets sectors, including aluminium, aviation, chemicals, concrete, shipping, steel and trucking, which are responsible for 30 per cent of global emissions—a proportion expected to rise to over 50 per cent by midcentury without urgent progress on clean technology innovation.

The coalition's members have committed to purchasing—out of their total industrial materials and long-distance transport spending—a percentage from suppliers using nearzero or zero-carbon solutions, despite the premium cost.