Commend India and Sweden for Their Work with Leadership Group for Industry Transition, Says UN Chief

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday commended India and Sweden for their work with an industry transition track that aims to create stronger commitments from sectors such as steel and cement to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

“In sectors such as steel and cement, we urgently need demonstration projects and global procurement targets for 2030, pledged by governments,” Guterres said in his remarks to the Clean Energy Ministerial hosted by Chile.

“Here, I commend India and Sweden for their work with the Leadership Group for Industry Transition. As we strive for net-zero emissions, we need all hands on deck,” Guterres said.

India and Sweden are co-leading the Industry Transition track, which will focus on creating stronger commitments from the “hard-to-abate sectors” such as steel, cement and build on the positive momentum in areas such as shipping.

Guterres said that every hard-to-abate sector – including steel, cement, shipping, aviation, land transport and buildings — must have an action plan for net-zero by 2050, with robust intermediate goals.

“If the shipping sector were a country, it would be the world’s sixth-largest greenhouse gas emitter…Zero-emissions ships must become the competitive choice by 2030, and we need credible market-based measures to get there,” he said.

In April this year, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) welcomed the US decision to join the Indian-Swedish climate initiative, Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT), and said it would help meet the Paris Agreement goals.

In his address to a virtual summit on climate change, US President Joe Biden had said he is looking forward to working with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a new partnership to achieve climate and energy goals, making this a core pillar of bilateral cooperation.

“We will be joining and a partner – for the nations and efforts to decarbonise critical sectors across the board, including the industrial sector, where we’ll join with Sweden and India, and in the Leadership Group for Industry Transition,” Biden had said.

Following the announcement, PMO India tweeted, “Welcome @POTUS joining the Leadership Group for Industry Transition, LeadIT! This Indian-Swedish climate initiative takes the lead in heavy industry transition.”

“It will help us meet Paris Agreement goals, strengthen competitiveness & create new sustainable jobs,” it said.

To boost ambition and accelerate action to implement the Paris Agreement, the Climate Action Summit of 2019 had focussed on nine interdependent tracks, which are led by 19 countries in total and supported by international organisations.

The nine tracks are mitigation, social and political drivers, youth and public mobilization, energy transition, industry transition, infrastructure, cities and local action, nature-based solutions, resilience and adaptation, climate finance and carbon pricing.

Source: ET