Financing decarbonization of heavy industry: May TEC meeting.

Financing a global industrial transition is increasingly being recognized as one of the final frontiers of achieving the Paris Agreement Goals. In this context, the LeadIT Technical Expert Committee (TEC) meeting held on May 24 fostered an engaging dialogue about financing the decarbonization of industry transition in the Global South. The meeting saw participation from representatives from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), and Avenue Capital.

Vivek Pathak, Director, and Global Head for Climate Business at the IFC, shared his thoughts about what is needed from large financial players on industry transition over the forthcoming seven years. Daniel Duma, Research Fellow at the SEI, presented findings on enabling conditions crucial for successful industry decarbonization projects. Esther Pan-Sloan, Managing Director at Avenue Capital, shed light on potential investment opportunities in low-carbon industry projects, and methods to de-risk investments in emerging markets.

The presentations were followed by a discussion on what is currently missing in terms of policy, capital, and technology for emerging markets to be on their way to net-zero in line with the Paris Agreement.

In addition, the Secretariat also presented the preliminary results of the LeadIT review. A process has gathered input from LeadIT members on how to further advance LeadIT’s mission of achieving net-zero emissions from heavy industry. Ahead of the UN Climate Ambition Summit in New York, LeadIT will convene a high-level LeadIT meeting on 19 September to present the vision and plan for LeadIT 2.0 that will be adopted and launched at COP28.

Looking forward, the TEC meeting scheduled for June 21 will concentrate on innovation and technology co-development. The LeadIT TEC meetings are closed member-only sessions with the aim to encourage frank and informal discussions with invited guests on current topics on industrial decarbonization.