Launched on 27 January at the Davos Agenda 2021, the Mission Possible Partnership (MPP) aims to accelerate the decarbonization of seven global industries representing 30% of global emissions, which include shipping, aviation, steel, trucking, chemicals, cement, and aluminum. Among the members are Shell, Trafigura Group, A.P. Møller-Maersk, BASF, and Lloyd's Register.
MPP is centered on the idea that, while the Paris Agreement lays the groundwork for global cooperation, its focus on national targets will not generate the plans and solutions necessary to achieve efficient and effective transition strategies for global industries on its own. An important missing piece of the global climate action architecture is an effort by sectors, complementing country-centric strategies with action from global industries to unlock technology and energy transformation. This is particularly important for heavy-emitting industries.
Run by the Energy Transitions Commission, Rocky Mountain Institute, the We Mean Business coalition, and the World Economic Forum, the MPP intends to decarbonize heavy industry and transport.
The partnership builds on the success of the Mission Possible Platform, which launched at the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit in 2019 and has grown from 30 to 400 companies since then. The International Energy Agency will be a strategic partner for the partnership, central to engagement with governments and bringing to bear its expertise on modeling and technology roadmaps.
“The number of country commitments to net-zero emissions targets by 2050 has grown during 2020 and is significant,” said Christoph Wolff, head of mobility, World Economic Forum. “Public, private cooperation across the transport and heavy industry sectors is crucial for the next phase of action. The launch of the Mission Possible Partnership at the Davos Agenda will accelerate these efforts in the run-up to COP26 in November.”
“As we move into the decade of delivery, we must not only grow the number of actors committed to a resilient, zero-carbon future, we must foster the radical collaboration needed to drive transformational change in every sector of the economy,” said Nigel Topping, UK high-level champion, COP26. “We are thrilled to be working hand-in-hand with the Mission Possible Partnership to drive this work forward in seven of the heaviest-emitting sectors of the economy.”
In late 2021, MPP will aim to showcase net-zero agreement breakthroughs in shipping, aviation, and steel. Within 3 years, it plans to help companies complete climate action agreements in these sectors as well as trucking, chemicals, cement, and aluminum. Within 5 years, the partnership aims for clear shifts in investment patterns across the seven sectors and will be pursuing net-zero climate action agreements in additional sectors, including potentially food and agriculture.
Initial funders in the MPP include the Bezos Earth Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Breakthrough Energy. MPP’s efforts will be strengthened by the expertise of its supporting partners: the Center for Climate-Aligned Finance, Ceres, the Climate Champions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Global Maritime Forum, SYSTEMIQ, the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
The seven platforms under formation include:
Shipping—Getting to Zero Coalition: 157 companies to date, spearheaded by supporting partner the Global Maritime Forum and already engaged to ensure the viability of zero-emissions vessels along deep-sea trade routes by 2030 and build the infrastructure for scalable zero-carbon maritime energy.
Aviation—Clean Skies for Tomorrow: 80 companies already engaged in driving a transition to sustainable aviation fuels and industry decarbonization.
Trucking—Road Freight Zero Coalition: 40 companies already engaged in defining pathways and solutions that accelerate the viability and deployment of zero emissions fleets and infrastructure for heavy-duty trucking toward a 1.5° trajectory by 2030.
Chemicals—Low-Carbon Emitting Technologies: 20 companies to date already engaged in accelerating the complex transition to low-carbon-emitting technologies by addressing technology, regulatory, funding and market challenges.
Steel—Net-Zero Steel Initiative: 12 companies to date engaged in shaping the policy, market and finance environment required to underpin the transition to net-zero steel.
Aluminum—Aluminum for Climate: a regionally diverse group of 12 organizations to date including some of the largest producers globally, engaged on technology roadmaps and stimulating demand for low-carbon aluminum.
Cement—Clean Cement Coalition: two major companies engaged in developing clean cement standards, stimulating demand for cleaner products, and enlarging the circle of progressive companies committing to net-zero targets.