Hard targets

Whether it’s in business, government, or one’s personal life, target setting can be as much art as it is science. Setting a target too high can hamper progress as the tasks ahead appear daunting. Setting a target too low can lead to complacency. In the effort to reduce carbon emissions, heavy industries like cement and steel present understandable challenges. In order to achieve the global ambition to reach net zero emissions by 2050, the Mission Possible Partnership (MPP), a coalition of industry and government leaders, identified milestones that each sector would need to reach by 2030. While noting that progress has begun, heavy industry decarbonization efforts would need to accelerate seven-fold to reach 2030 climate targets. For instance, where the trucking industry would require 7 million zero-emission trucks by 2030, only 1 million have been announced, and just 66,000 are currently operational. While the chemicals industry has announced more than 100 green and blue ammonia plants of the 60 required, only 3 of those are operational according to MPP.

Source: MPP, April 2024