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Welcome to Zeroing In by Speed & Scale, where we cut through the noise to deliver a data-driven update on progress toward net zero.

COP28 OR COP-OUT: COP28 is well underway, and as always, we’re tracking the announcements that will bring us toward net zero and the ones that will hold us back. This is set to be the largest COP ever, and here are some of the stories that have caught our attention so far:

• Loss and damage fund agreement: A climate disaster fund victory kicked off the climate summit, with $429 million pledged to help the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries pay for irreversible impacts of climate disaster. This comes on the heels of data released by the UN stating wealthy countries have been rolling back funding commitments to help developing countries cope with the effects of climate change.

• Down vs. out on oil: The COP28 president-designate Sultan Al Jaber has denied allegations that the UAE team is using COP28 to broker fossil fuel deals, but the discussion on oil remains heated. POLITICO reports that a global deal to phase out fossil fuels is facing pushback.

• Or none of the above: Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman says the kingdom won’t agree to a text that calls for the phase-down of fossil fuels at the COP28 summit in Dubai, which would block any such hope of action.

Big Picture

Source: CBS News

OKRs in the News

🚗 1.0 – Electrify Transportation

• A Virgin Atlantic flight from London to New York City used only fossil-free jet fuel. It lasted eight hours, spanned 3,500 miles, and its fuel emits 70% less carbon than petroleum-based jet fuel. This represents a major milestone for long-haul green flight, but should be noted that sustainable aviation fuels currently make up less than 1% of the current jet fuel consumption.

• Maersk recently announced it has entered into the shipping industry’s first large-scale agreement for green methanol with China’s Goldwind. Investing in green fuels is pivotal for reaching net-zero emissions by 2040.

• Despite negative EV headlines over the past few weeks, the data tells a different story. Sales of hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and BEVs have accounted for 16.0% of all new light-duty vehicle sales in the United States so far this year, compared with 12.5% in 2022 and 9.0% in 2021.

• BNEF lithium battery survey found that battery prices have dropped by 14% to a record low of $139/kWh. Continued investment in R&D, manufacturing process improvements, and capacity expansion across the supply chain will help reduce costs over the next decade.

💡 2.0 – Decarbonize the Grid

• A new IEA report urges action on energy efficiency at COP28: As momentum builds around the global target to double efficiency progress from the 2022 level of 2% to 4% each year until 2030, international collaboration has a major role to play in shaping future energy efficiency and demand pathways.

• China is on track to install a record 230 gigawatts of new solar and wind capacity this year, roughly triple the total for the rest of the world, according to a report from Wood Mackenzie.

• A controversial L.A. Times op-ed weighs one of the tradeoffs in the push for net zero: The requisite scale of solar and wind projects could mar our natural landscape.

• Big Oil currently accounts for a paltry 1% of global financing for clean energy. As a whole, the industry spent around $20 billion on clean energy, representing less than 3% of its total capital budget.

• South Africa and Indonesia are backtracking on commitments they made to burn less fossil fuel under agreements known as Just Energy Transition Partnerships, or JETPs, which offered them $28.5 billion from the U.S. and other wealthy nations.

🐄 3.0 – Fix Food

• Restaurants, the second largest source of food waste in the U.S., are using AI to mitigate the problem.

• U.N. Food & Agriculture Organization guidance focuses on curbing our appetites for meat. Wealthier nations that over-consume meat will be advised to limit their intake while developing countries will need to improve their livestock farming.

• The Bezos Earth Fund called for a commitment to transforming our food systems as countries signed a declaration announced at COP28 to better integrate food into their climate goals, announcing $57 million in food-related grants.

• Six global food companies stepped forward at the UN climate conference to announce an alliance to help dairy farmers reduce methane emissions and make farming more sustainable.

🌳 4.0 – Protect Nature

• A first-of-its-kind solar canal project in Arizona may be the key to conserving the Gila River.

• Nature-based solutions are key to addressing biodiversity loss, according to COP28 conversations. Activists, such as Audubon advocate for furthering conservation efforts.

🧹 6.0 – Remove Carbon

• Climate philanthropies Bezos Earth Fund, Bloomberg, and CIFF signed a pledge demonstrating our support for the mobilization of capital through high-integrity carbon finance tools.  

• The IEA came out against carbon capture as a strategy to reach net zero, but ExxonMobil CEO punches back: “There is no solution set out there today that is at the scale to solve the problem.”

🏛️ 7.0 – Win Politics and Policy

• The Inflation Reduction Act effectively created a new growing market where small companies can gain access to funding to drive investments in emissions-reduction technologies in lieu of tax credits, and the marketplace is growing exponentially.

• California’s new California law, SB 410, takes a comprehensive approach to incentivizing the buildout of the state’s clean energy grid which has proven difficult because the state’s power grid isn’t growing fast enough to support a surge of EVs.

🏃 8.0 – Turn Movements into Action

• The Economist graded the world’s progress on renewables, adaptation, investment, and other fronts—and came away with some disappointing conclusions.

• Much has changed since the Paris Accord five years ago – and for the better. The New Climate Institute spotlights expanded awareness of the climate crisis, improved electrification, and significant gains in solar deployment. Despite this progress, the emissions crisis itself is accelerating at an even faster pace, forcing us to move more quickly.

OKR Highlight

OKR Highlight: 8.0 Turn Movements Into Action

As we watch COP28 unfold, it’s impossible to ignore the controversies around this year’s global climate summit. From the start, the UAE venue was an unlikely setting for a call to phase out oil. Second, heads of state from the two biggest emitters, China and the U.S., will not be in attendance. The U.N. Stocktake gives us hope for a tangible outcome: an assessment of our global progress toward net zero that drives greater ambition for the next set of national climate commitments.

⚡ 9.0 – Innovate

• Google’s partnership with clean-energy startup, Fervo, to develop a geothermal power project in Nevada is now contributing carbon-free energy to the grid.

• Fertilizers made with ammonia have propelled the fertilizer industry to the edge of the energy transition.

• You’ve seen green, blue, and gray, but was white hydrogen on your radar? Miners in Lorraine, France found one of the largest natural hydrogen deposits on earth, which could be key to scaling this renewable energy.

💰 10.0 – Invest

• BlackRock Investment Institute called for a blended approach to finance the energy transition. It would rely on both private investment and public sector reforms to achieve net zero.

• UAE president announces $30 billion fund to bridge climate finance gap, aiming to increase investment in the global south’s infrastructure against threats of the climate crisis.

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