In a new report from Stockholm Sustainable Finance Centre and Stockholm Environment Institute, sustainability experts give an overview of what is required to achieve net zero transition in climate intensive sectors such as steel, cement, agricultural commodities and oil and gas and what investors engaging in these sectors need to know to have real economic impacts on green transitions.
Very disruptive changes must start to be implemented in this decade to align high emitting sectors with the Paris targets –but none of the sectors examined has begun to make those changes in earnest. There is an enormous opportunity for investors to influence the level of emissions and make an impact on the real economy by placing coordinated pressure on companies and other actors in high emitting sectors to plan and implement serious transitions of their businesses.
In this new report; What does it take to achieve net zero? Opportunities and barriers in the steel, cement, agriculture, and oil and gas sectors, the authors’ analysis concludes with a set of broader lessons regarding the role of investors in engaging with climate-intensive sectors. They suggest that investors put focus on engaging with value chains, advancing sector wide transitions, aiming for sectorial targets, and committing to not providing financing to new oil and gas exploration and development.
The executive summary synthesizes these overarching insights; each section of the report is tailored to the four individual sectors.