Advance market commitments to decarbonize heavy industry
Varun Sivaram, managing director for clean energy and innovation in John Kerry's office, explains the First Movers Coalition (FMC), a public-private partnership involving 66 companies and 9 governments to create demand for low-carbon industrial products. The coalition targets eight 'hard to abate' sectors—including steel, aluminum, cement, chemicals, shipping, trucking, aviation, and carbon dioxide removal—by setting stringent, technology-forcing standards for 2030 purchase commitments. Sivaram details how the FMC’s demand-side commitments complement the supply-side incentives of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to accelerate the scaling of emerging technologies like green steel and sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).