International Collaboration

International collaboration in support of reaching net zero has increased substantially in recent years, but greater sectoral and geographical coverage will be required, alongside a focus on co-ordination across sectors and initiatives, as well as on supporting technologies and policies.

Without enhanced international collaboration in support of decarbonisation, getting on track with the NZE Scenario could be delayed by decades, as shown by the Low International Co-operation case in the IEA Net Zero by 2050 Roadmap.

International collaboration could accelerate shared innovation and technology deployment, support the agreement of common international standards, and foster the development of joint approaches to achieve a level playing field for the trade of low-emission goods. International collaborative action can make the transition to net zero faster, lower cost and easier to achieve. In order to maximise these benefits, collaboration in these sectors should be inclusive, be well-coordinated and support interaction between governments, businesses and civil society.

While the number of initiatives in a given sector and their members’ share of global activity alone cannot be used to quantify the strength of international co-operation, they provide useful indicators of stakeholders’ willingness to collaborate. For a more detailed assessment of the quality of international collaboration, the annual Breakthrough Agenda Report covers the status of co-operation in power, hydrogen, road transport, steel, cement and buildings sectors.

The majority of these sectoral net zero-aligned initiatives are driven by the private sector and focus on collaboration among businesses to foster knowledge sharing and to scale up development of new technology. While public and hybrid (public–private) sectoral initiatives also exist in these sectors, some are not yet aligned with net zero.

The coverage of net zero initiatives by share of global sectoral activity has expanded rapidly over the course of the past two years, but varies significantly by sector. Many of the existing collaborative net zero initiatives have more extensive coverage in Europe and among OECD member countries. Public and private representation from Africa, Asia and Latin America is currently much lower. However, initiatives covering non-OECD countries that aim to decarbonise heavy industry and transport sectors do exist, such as Baowu Steel’s “Global Low-Carbon Metallurgical Innovation Alliance”. Nevertheless, many of these initiatives are not net zero aligned and serve largely as knowledge exchange platforms. Expanding the geographic coverage of already existing initiatives should remain an important priority for international collaboration on net zero emissions in the respective sectors.

The hydrogen sector saw good progress in key areas as countries worked together to move forward discussions on standardisation and scale up financial support for new projects. The landmark agreement at COP 28 on tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency marked a positive step forward in the power sector; translating this high-level signal into action will be an important next step, including for the implementation of the sectoral details of the efficiency target. Progress was more limited in other parts of the power sector, particularly in efforts to reduce the cost of capital of projects in emerging economies, and to target support in fossil fuel-dependent communities to create local jobs and skills. In road transport, several new high-level agreements – such as under the Group of Seven (G7) or the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) – indicate clear commitments to decarbonisation, although they still fall short of setting a Paris-aligned trajectory by which all vehicle sales should be zero emission. Some progress was also made in certain areas for the steel, cement and buildings sectors, as new agreements and partnerships were announced to boost financial assistance and establish shared objectives to decarbonise.

In the steel and cement sectors, standards for low- and near-zero emission products are advancing as international industry and government initiatives are identifying areas of common ground on definitions and measurement methodologies, although deepened government engagement is still needed to rapidly reach broad international agreement. Ongoing work programmes at key initiatives in the hydrogen sector have made good progress in the effort to establish globally harmonised standards for renewable and low-carbon hydrogen and its derivatives, and nearly 40 governments signed a Declaration of Intent for mutual recognition of certification schemes at COP 28. In the buildings sector, there is progress towards agreeing on definitions and principles for near-zero and resilient buildings. In road transport, pilot projects to create digital passports for the traceability and sustainability of battery supply chains are making progress, and leading players in this space are calling for stronger collaboration among governments to ensure globally harmonised standards are adopted across markets. International discussions on standardising charging equipment are also taking place across major vehicle markets.

While there have been some steps on creating demand for clean technologies in the hydrogen, steel and cement sectors – including new pledges by countries to procure low-emission steel and cement – there is an urgent need for governments to convert pledges into firm commitments and stronger policies in order to mobilise investment at the level required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and the Breakthrough Agenda. The private sector, through international initiatives and joint commitments, can be a key partner in accelerating demand creation for low-emission materials and fuels. In road transport, the accelerating uptake of electric cars is encouraging, but more efforts are needed to support demand for zero emission vehicles in heavier segments, particularly vans, trucks and buses. In the power and buildings sectors, the launch of the Global Cooling Pledge at COP 28 saw 63 countries commit to work together to increase the global average efficiency of new air conditioners by 50% by 2030, and establish Minimum Energy Performance Standards and model building energy codes, amongst other objectives.

For example, scaling up clean power generation can help enable the production of low-emissions hydrogen and its derivatives, which can feed into the decarbonisation of other high-emitting sectors, such as agriculture or international shipping.