First Movers Coalition
US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate - John Kerry made the announcement alongside Bill Gates, the Founder of Breakthrough Energy, at a press briefing hosted by the World Economic Forum.
Global companies must work together to create new markets for a net-zero future"
George Oliver, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Johnson Controls, said "Global companies must work together to create new markets for a net-zero future. As a founding member of the First Movers Coalition Johnson Controls made a commitment to purchase 10 percent near net-zero carbon steel by 2030, and today welcomes new members, including Microsoft, Alphabet and Salesforce, to the Coalition, creating an unprecedented demand signal for cleantech."
near-zero and zero-carbon technologies
George Oliver adds, "Only through joint collaboration we are creating unprecedented market demand for the near-zero or zero-carbon technologies needed for net-zero by 2050."
Led by the World Economic Forum and the US government, the First Movers Coalition targets sectors, including aluminum, aviation, chemicals, concrete, shipping, steel, and trucking responsible for 30% of global emissions – a proportion expected to rise to over 50% by mid-century without urgent progress on clean technology innovation.
Commercialization of emerging clean technologies
The companies – whose market cap represents about US$ 8.5 trillion across five continents – have sent the largest market signal in history to commercialize emerging clean technologies, by making unprecedented advance purchase commitments by 2030 for near-zero carbon steel, aluminium, shipping, trucking and aviation as well as advanced carbon dioxide removal solutions.
Reducing emissions to net-zero by 2050 is possible, if the right technologies are brought to commercial scale
Reducing emissions to net-zero by 2050 is possible, if the right technologies are brought to commercial scale, within the next decade.
"On behalf of the whole team at Johnson Controls, it is our great honor and pleasure to be counted among the founding partners of the First Movers Coalition. Let us salute Secretary John Kerry and the leadership of the World Economic Forum for launching this innovative partnership, and historic expansion today," said Katie McGinty, the Vice President and Chief Sustainability and External Relations Officer at Johnson Controls.
Decarbonization
Katie McGinty adds, "This is exactly the kind of 'working together' - business and government, together - that the world so needs and that we know is an unbeatable combination. The toughest problems, like decarbonizing hard to decarbonize sectors, in the face of formidable partnerships, and we believe, transform them into opportunities."
Among the earliest industrial companies to report carbon emissions and pledge emission reductions, Johnson Controls continues to make tremendous progress – committing to achieving net zero Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2040 – ten years ahead of the Paris Climate Agreement goal. By 2030, the company aims to cut its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 55 percent and Scope 3 emissions by 16 percent. These ambitious 2030 emissions reduction targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.