The Alliance for Industry Decarbonization Officially Launched
Jakarta. The International Renewable Energy Agency, also known as IRENA, co-founding partner Siemens Energy, and thirteen companies across all industry sectors on Thursday launched the global Alliance for Industry Decarbonization.
Adopting the Bali Declaration, the new alliance aims to accelerate net-zero ambitions and the decarbonization of industrial value chains in pursuit of the Paris Agreement climate goals. Co-founder Siemens Energy has been a major driver for the creation of the Alliance and will co-chair the Alliance leadership.
The industrial sector generates 25 percent of the global GDP. This sector, however, emits around 28 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, partnerships based on dialogue and actions are crucial for industrial stakeholders to best address the challenges and opportunities of a clean energy transition.
A multi-stakeholder platform enabling such exchanges and collaboration can accelerate global climate action.
"Climate action needs industry leaders. This Alliance stands for the growing commitment of global industry to act on decarbonization and unlock opportunities that come with green industrialization through renewables and other transition-related technologies like green hydrogen," IRENA director-general Francesco La Camera said.
Member of the Executive Board of Siemens Energy Karim Amin highlighted the urgent need to slash greenhouse gas emissions to tackle climate change.
"Accounting for more than a quarter of global emissions, the industrial sector is the second largest emitter and requires rapid decarbonization. In this endeavor, partnerships are crucial. With our technologies, we at Siemens Energy constantly seek to create value with our partners toward a low-carbon future," he said.
When asked about the Alliance's five- to ten-year plan, Amin said the declaration had happened and that the first meeting would take place on the sidelines of the COP27 in November in Egypt.
In that forum, Alliance members would sit together and agree on their short-term, mid-term, and long-term plans, namely their five-year, ten-year plans, and onwards. According to Amin, every country needs to really look at where it stands regarding its journey to the energy transition.
Amin revealed that he had recently discussed with Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif. They shared Indonesia's decarbonization plans, which were not limited to power generation, but also transportation, such as converting motorcycles from internal combustion engines to electric-driven engines.
"I believe that Indonesia, the President of the G20, is not at all shy from making its plan public, committing to it, and translating this plan from paper into real implementation. And I think Indonesia is doing an excellent job in being clear and standing behind the commitment," Amid said.
As a co-founding partner of the Alliance, Siemens Energy has made decarbonization efforts.
In 2020, Siemens Energy announced that it would not contribute to building new coal-fired power plants.
With this decision, Siemens Energy put discipline in its organization and signaled to the world that coal needed to write its last chapters. And that the current coal power blocks, which are running, need to be phased out, and we should not build new ones.
According to Amin, Siemens Energy has signed up for the so-called Sites Based Target Initiative (SBTI) — a UN program where companies declare their voluntary commitment toward a net zero.
The company has pledged to slash its CO2 footprint by almost 50 percent.
By 2030, the company will power its facilities, manufacturing processes, offices, and so on, using 100 percent renewable energy.
Siemens Energy has also invested much in innovation and research and development (R&D) to produce and offer solutions to support other industries in reaching their net-zero targets.
"We are spending roughly 1 billion Euro a year, which is a big amount of money in R&D, and every year we are directing more and more of this 1 billion Euro towards technologies and solutions 100 percent connected to decarbonization and sustainability," he said.
The Alliance members include co-founding partner Siemens Energy, Enel Green Power, TAQA Arabia, Eni, Technip Energies, EDF Renewables, JSW, Tata Steel, Sable Chemicals, Tatanga Energy, Roland Berger, Repsol, Equinor and TAQA.
The Alliance membership is open to public and private firms and stakeholders operating in energy-intensive sectors who wish to decarbonize their activities.
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