Five-year report highlights LeadIT’s successes and remaining challenges.
LeadIT has published its first five-year report, outlining its work, successes and impacts so far and its remaining challenges in aligning industry with the Paris Agreement. The report was launched by the Swedish and Indian Environment Ministers at the LeadIT Annual Summit Meeting held at COP29 in Baku.
LeadIT 2018 - 24
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When LeadIT was launched in 2019, many considered low-carbon transitions in heavy industry to be unrealistic. Five years later, these transitions are beginning to happen through new public private partnerships and enabling shifts in global industrial policy. In its first five-year report, LeadIT highlights how the organization has helped accelerate this transformation.
Background and members
LeadIT was announced in September 2019 as a global initiative. It was backed by the Prime Ministers of Sweden and India, after the two countries had been asked by the United Nations to align heavy industry with the goals of the Paris Agreement to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The five-year report explains how LeadIT was launched against a backdrop of escalating environmental crises and heightened public demand for climate justice.
The membership of LeadIT initially consisted of nine countries and several companies. This has now grown to 18 countries and 23 companies.
The most recent additions are Indian automotive giant Ashok Leyland, Canadian green hydrogen pioneers World Energy GH2 and Swedish green steel scale-up Stegra. Several impact stories from members are contained in the report, providing clear signs that industry transition is underway. These stories include the HYBRIT project, created by three Swedish companies to eliminate CO2 emissions from the global steel industry and Indian company Dalmia Cement’s leadership role in decarbonizing the cement industry.
Key impacts
The report includes a LeadIT milestone timeline and a summary of the progress including:
- LeadIT’s work to mobilize finance for green industrial transitions
- The core work by LeadIT to support government and industries in emerging economies produce stakeholder-led roadmaps for achieving decarbonization.
- The launch of the Green Steel Tracker and the Green Cement Technology Tracker which have helped drive a global conversation about industry transition. Information from the LeadIT trackers has been used by The Financial Times, Carbon Pulse, Green Steel World, Global Energy Monitor and Industrious Labs.
The future
Following the success of the previous years in building momentum, LeadIT 2.0 was launched At COP28 in Dubai in 2023, with a specific focus on translating momentum into action on the ground. The work of LeadIT 2.0 is organized into three pillars that will continue until 2026:
- To continue providing a global forum for just and equitable industry transition.
- To facilitate technology collaboration.
- To co-develop and foster Industry Transition Partnerships that will help developing economies by improving the effectiveness of international assistance to deliver the enabling conditions that can build a pipeline of bankable low-carbon industrial projects.
"To reach our 2030 commitments much work remains to be done by all…… It will take courage to lead in the next phase of the industry transition. To be globally successful it will take genuine partnerships, mutual understanding and sheer willpower to overcome obstacles. From the individual LeadIT member it will take ambition, creativity and a strong will to work with others to achieve tangible results. In short, it will take guts."
Per Andersson
Head of Secretariat, LeadIT