Building a Stronger Partnership for Net Zero – LeadIT at Almedalen.
The stage at Almedalen, Sweden’s political forum for debate and dialogue was the perfect setting to announce two new members of LeadIT. Cemvision and the Steel Authority of India Ltd were welcomed to the Leadership Group by the Indian Ambassador to Sweden, Tanmaya Lal and the Swedish State Secretary for Climate and Environment, Daniel Westlén as part of the Engaging India at Almedalen event “Samband for Climate”.
Action to achieve global industry transition needs both established heavy industry and technology innovators to learn from each other and achieve sustainable growth. The LeadIT group is therefore delighted to welcome the two new members.
Daniel Westlén
State Secretary, Climate & Environment, Government of Sweden
As new members both SAIL and Cemvision have committed to align to the Paris Agreement to achieve decarbonisation by 2050 but face different challenges ahead.
For Cemvision the decarbonization challenge is to bring a new process to market and truly establish themselves as world leaders for net zero cement. The company is less than five years old but now has the financial backing needed to scale up production of their cement made from industrial waste materials like slag from steel making. By replacing virgin limestone from the process a major source of CO2 emissions is removed and by using non fossil fuel energy sources in production emissions are further reduced.
Decarbonization of steel and cement production, which are essential ingredients of infrastructure today but with very high carbon emissions are a key focus of LeadIT. Therefore, it is especially exciting to have two more important companies each from the cement and steel sectors join the LeadIT coalition today.
Tanmaya Lal
Indian Ambassador to Sweden & Latvia
By contrast SAIL, the Steel Authority of India, has seven decades of history as a major steel producer. As one of the largest steel producers in India SAIL faces the significant challenges posed by the inherently carbon intensive nature of steel production and, like the vast majority of the Indian steel industry, a historical reliance on coal. As the demand for steel in India is predicted to grow in the coming decades – SAIL joining LeadIT and its vision is one important step in a journey to reduce carbon emissions at scale.
The global decarbonization for a world with net zero emissions from heavy industry by 2050 needs all stakeholders to commit to a fair and just transition.