Climate Week NYC

Economic turmoil, geopolitical alliances, and shifting security landscapes are increasingly affecting the stability of global trade and supply chains. The effects of these issues are clear, with shortages of crucial resources ranging from food to semiconductors becoming increasingly widespread. With the likelihood of these issues continuing to grow, it is becoming increasingly important to find additional ways to build resilience into global trade and supply chains. This session will bring together cross-sector experts to discuss this issue, and what steps can be taken to solve it.

Decarbonising hard-to-abate industries: heavy-duty transport, shipping, aviation, iron and steel, chemicals and petrochemicals is particularly critical for meeting global climate targets. These sectors collectively account for 25% of global energy consumption and 20% of CO2 emissions. Despite technological progress, these industries are not on track to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century without significant intervention and innovation. Transitioning to renewable energy and enhancing energy efficiency are crucial for reducing emissions in these sectors (IRENA, 2023). 

Renewables can play a central role in the decarbonisation of all hard to abate sectors. The drastic cost reductions that we have observed in recent years make renewable power the cheapest source of carbon-neutral energy worldwide. Furthermore, there is potential for further cost reductions through technological learning and economies of scale. The full decarbonisation of the hard-to-abate sectors will require a combination of approaches, given the characteristics of each sector. However, most emission reductions will have to be achieved through a combination of five main pathways which rely primarily on renewable energy and energy efficiency, as presented in Figure 1. (IRENA, 2024). Several enabling conditions need to be put in place to accelerate the decarbonisation of hard-to abate sectors. These will require decisive action by governments, as well as by the private sector. They also have fundamental implications in terms of national and international policy and regulatory environments, technology and infrastructure planning, global commodity markets, international supply chains and business models.