England (Commonwealth Union)_ Grant Shapps, the United Kingdom’s business secretary, declared that the country will invest more than £65 million to hasten the development of new green technologies while speaking at the COP27 talks in Egypt. The investment continues the work of the UK, which established the Breakthrough Agenda at COP26 in Glasgow, a coalition created to scale and hasten the development and application of clean technologies.
To meet net zero goals, the measures will, in BEIS’s words, help expand a “whole global market” for clean energy technologies by making them more affordable for developing nations. The donation will support the Climate Investment Funds’ first large-scale Industry Transition Programme, which will assist developing nations with high energy costs, like India and Indonesia, in making the switch to a greener economy. Responding to the news, Shapps said: “At COP27 we are leading international efforts to ensure that these innovations can be more accessible and affordable to heavy, energy-intensive industries in some of the world’s poorest countries.”
The UK Government, along with Germany, will support a new financing window for creative clean technology ventures, it was also revealed in the statement. The funds from the Mitigation Action Facility, which is scheduled to launch in 2023, will go to “critical priority” industries. The funding adds to the £65.5 million the Prime Minister previously announced for the Clean Energy Innovation Facility, which awards grants to academics to hasten the development of clean technology in developing nations. The UK-led fund, which was established in 2019, has so far provided funding for 76 projects, including the installation of biomass-powered refrigeration in India and the development of clean hydrogen-based fuels for the production of steel in Morocco.
The Center for Global Development estimates that developing nations are to blame for 63% of current carbon emissions. The CEO of the Climate Investment Funds, Mafalda Duarte, stated that emissions from hard-to-reduce industries are concentrated in developing nations and are expected to increase. The pioneering CIF Industry Decarbonization initiative will assist developing nations, manage transition risks, and exploit new business possibilities with funding from the UK and Sweden. The investment platform is made to help decarbonize industries with high emissions, such as steel, cement, and aluminum.
