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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. |
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PATH TO NET ZERO STILL OPEN, BUT… Since the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its last report in 2021, limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius has gotten even harder. Things may get worse before they get better—the newest IEA report states that we will surpass 1.5 but drop back under by 2100.
The IEA now projects that achieving net zero by 2050 will require setting new goals. To address the bulk of emissions reductions, the IEA makes four calls to action: ramping up renewables, improving energy efficiency, cutting methane emissions, and increasing electrification with technologies available today. The biggest energy system emission reductions will come from tripling installations of new renewable energy, mostly solar and wind power—showing that the energy transition will be additive, supporting the build up of new industries. |
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Source: International Energy Agency |
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🚗 1.0 – Electrify Transportation Tesla is slashing prices on EVs—at $38,990, the base Model 3 sedan now costs $8,700 less than the average amount paid for a car or truck in the US. Potential roadblock in the energy transformation? EV battery plants are a make-or-break issue in UAW union negotiations, as unions worry about job security in the transition to EVs.
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🌳 4.0 – Protect Nature Your daily cup of Joe contributes to the climate damage caused by deforestation, but there’s an end in sight. In an effort to reduce the impact of coffee production on our forests, pioneers like Atomo Coffee have launched beanless espresso. President Biden vetoed legislation that would have weakened protections under the Endangered Species act for the lesser prairie chicken and northern long-eared bat.
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🧱 5.0 – Clean Up Industry The WSJ highlights how major companies are struggling to create specific plans to cut emissions. Thanks to nearly $5 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, we’re seeing progress on the plugging of old fossil fuel wells, a cost-effective strategy to combat methane emissions. The shipping industry may be going back to the future to reduce emissions—via wind power. Consultancy CE Delft estimates that shipping emissions could be cut by close to half by 2030 through a combination of wind propulsion, new fuels, and reduced speeds.
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🏛️ 7.0 – Win Politics and Policy The EU has launched a carbon reporting system, the first phase of a plan to impose a new carbon border tariff on imported goods, including iron and steel, aluminum, cement, electricity, fertilizers, and hydrogen. The newly unveiled American Climate Corps will enlist 20,000 workers to help restore wetlands, deploy low-carbon energy, and manage forests. The program was inspired by the Civilian Conservation Corps of the New Deal era. Biden officials and environmental organizations are touting the benefits of the IRA through events, roundtables, and advertising in key congressional districts. They are working to respond to the 71 percent of Americans who say they have heard “little” or “nothing at all” about the law more than a year after its passage. India announced the establishment of carbon reduction mandates in four energy-intensive industries. The mandates will be applied by 2025, when the industries will begin trading on India’s new carbon market from 2025.
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🏃 8.0 – Turn Movements into Action Ahead of next week’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meeting, the IMF released a report to frame how global financial institutions can address our climate crisis. The challenge is to navigate a policy trilemma between aggressive climate goals, fiscal sustainability, and political feasibility.
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OKR Highlight 8.0: We’re thinking a lot about OKR 8.0 and how we can turn movements into action. Can individual actions make a decisive impact, or does climate action require collective, global convenings?
Last week, we dove into Climate Week NYC to investigate whether these high-profile meetings move the needle on climate action. What we found is surprising. Check out our Climate Week NYC analysis here and be on the lookout for takeaways from next week’s meeting on our social channels.
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🗝️ 9.0 – Innovate In a first-of-its-kind partnership, America’s largest steel producer, Nucor, is teaming up with Helion Energy to build a fusion power plant at a Nucor steel mill. The deal represents a bet on a nascent technology that had a long-awaited breakthrough in December, when a lab generated more energy from a fusion reaction than was needed to create it.
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💰 10.0 – Invest! HSBC will spend $1 billion to support emerging climate tech companies from around the world in EV charging, battery storage, sustainable food and agriculture, and carbon removal technologies. According to the IMF, banks have yet to align the goals of their sustainability funds with net zero targets. Nor are they providing essential private capital to developing countries. At present, most banks aren’t even on track to meet their own net zero targets.
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