The United States is committed to tackling the climate crisis through the deployment of cost-cutting clean energy technologies at home and abroad. As countries gathered for “Energy Day” at the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, the United States continued to demonstrate leadership through both the launch of new initiatives and the expansion of previous work:
- Launching the Clean Energy Demand Initiative (CEDI) Secretariat – The Clean Energy Demand Initiative (CEDI), a public-private partnership between the Department of State and the Clean Energy Buyers Alliance, launched the CEDI Secretariat to extend its work connecting countries with companies interested in investing in clean energy to power their operations. Through CEDI, companies can send demand signals for clean energy and countries can develop policy plans that enable corporate renewable procurement. Around 80 companies have joined CEDI, representing a wide range of sectors, including technology, manufacturing, retail, and health. Taken together, these companies could drive up to $100 billion in clean energy infrastructure across 14 countries.
- Expanding the Net Zero World (NZW) Initiative – The Net Zero World Initiative plans to welcome new partners – Thailand and Singapore – to bring the expertise of the world-class U.S. National Laboratories to help government decision makers at the national and regional levels make informed climate and energy policy and investment decisions for the transition toward a net-zero future. The United States is also announcing a Women’s Net Zero World Leadership Program as well as the establishment of collaboration work programs with Chile, Indonesia, and Nigeria, and the launch of in-depth analytic and technical cooperation on priority projects with these countries.
- Launching the Zero Emissions Vehicles in Emerging Markets Initiative – In an effort to step up cooperation between companies and emerging markets to transition to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), the initiative, co-led by the United States Department of State, United Kingdom Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), will foster dialogue between emerging markets and major companies to accelerate private investment and public policies enabling both companies and governments to achieve their ambitious ZEV deployment goals. The initiative will contribute to the broader ZEV Transition Council (ZEV-TC) framework – which the U.S. and U.K. governments co-chair – and the activities of its participants to support an accelerated and more equitable global transition to ZEVs. Arcadis, DHL, Fifthwall, Grab, Hitachi, Honda, KPMG, Leaseplan, Linkedin, Sabanci and Uber have signed on to participate in the initiative. Altogether, these companies have already announced 50 billion USD of investments toward the global ZEV transition through their operations, including committing to deploy more than two million EVs by 2030.
- U.S. joining the Global Memorandum of Understanding on Medium and Heavy Duty Vehicles – U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm announced that the U.S. Government signs onto a global Memorandum of Understanding to advance Zero-Emission Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles (ZE-MHDV). This MOU leverages the Biden-Harris Administration’s existing whole-of-government approach to address the climate crisis, including an interagency agreement between the U.S. Departments of Energy, Transportation, Housing & Urban Development, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with the goal of creating a comprehensive blueprint for decarbonizing the transportation sector.
- Expanding the U.S.-ASEAN Climate Solutions Hub to include Pacific Island Countries – The United States announced the creation of the U.S-ASEAN Climate Solutions Hub during the May US-ASEAN Leaders Summit and…