The World Economic Forum said $13.5 trillion investment is needed to decarbonize hard-to-abate key industries and achieve the net-zero target.
WEF disclosed this in its recent report, ‘The Net-Zero Industry Tracker 2023’, in collaboration with Accenture.
The report took stock of the progress of net-zero emissions for eight industries, including steel, cement, aluminium, ammonia, excluding other chemicals, oil and gas, aviation, shipping and trucking – which depend on fossil fuels for 90 per cent of the energy demand.
Roberto Bocca, Head of the Centre for Energy and Materials, World Economic Forum, noted that decarbonizing the industrial and transport sectors, which emit 40 per cent of global greenhouse gas, is pivotal to achieving net zero.
“Decarbonizing these industrial and transport sectors, which emit 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions today, is essential to achieving net zero, especially as demand for industrial products and transport services will continue to be strong,” he said.
The report stressed that the $13.5 trillion in investments is derived from average clean power generation costs of solar, off-shore and on-shore wind, nuclear and geothermal, electrolyzer costs for clean hydrogen and carbon transport, and storage costs.
It emphasized the urgency for creating a robust enabling environment, including low-emissions technologies, infrastructure, demand for green products, policies and investments.