Global decarbonisation First Movers Coalition expands

The First Movers Coalition, a public-private partnership aimed at decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors, has significantly expanded to 55 companies and nine government partners.

A total of 20 new companies have joined, including Google parent company Alphabet, fellow technology company Microsoft, mining firm BHP, car maker Ford, trading house Mitsui and transport firm FedEx. Denmark, Italy, Norway, Singapore, the UK, India, Japan and Sweden join the US as government partners.

"This is a demand signal, one of the biggest demand signals [for decarbonisation] we could send," UN climate envoy John Kerry said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Wednesday.

The companies have a collective market value of around $8.5 trillion. The coalition was launched at the UN Cop 26 climate summit in November 2021, with members making decarbonisation commitments across steel, aviation, shipping and trucking sectors. These include setting purchase targets for zero-emissions steel, as well as replacing a percentage of conventional jet fuel with sustainable aviation fuel. The coalition's aim is to generate demand for decarbonisation and related technologies — some of which are not yet commercially available — and spur the supply.

The coalition is "mobilising enormous purchasing power," Kerry said. "The marketplace is going to do this. It's not going to happen by government decree… it's going to happen because people can see there's a demand for this," he added.

New sectors to drive decarbonisation

The coalition has launched two new sectors — carbon removal and aluminium. Technology firms Alphabet, Microsoft and Salesforce have pledged $500mn collectively to CO2 removal, while other members have committed to CO2 removal and storage targets of up to 250,000t. All members must deliver on their commitments by 2030 and demonstrate that the CO2 will be stored for more than 1,000 years.

Companies including Ford, trading firm Trafigura and car maker Volvo have pledged that 10pc of their primary aluminium purchases will be "near-zero" CO2 emissions by 2030. The aluminium sector represents 2pc of global emissions, the coalition said.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates noted the importance of "engaging the private sector, particularly on the demand side", to drive down emissions. His Breakthrough Energy Catalyst foundation, which will invest in clean technology projects, will make its first grants this year, Gates said at the WEF today.

By Georgia Gratton