SHARM EL-SHEIKH: India and Sweden jointly hosted the Leadership for Industry Transition (LeadIT) Summit on the sidelines of the 27 Conference of Parties (COP 27) on Tuesday, November 15. Bhupender Yadav, Minister for Environment Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, Romina Pourmokhtari, Minister for Climate and Environment, Government of Sweden and Raina Al-Mashat, Minister for International Cooperation, Egypt were present at the summit.
The LeadIT (Leadership for Industry Transition) initiative focuses on the transition towards a low-carbon industry sector. The initiative was launched by India and Sweden in 2019 at the United Nations Climate Action Summit held in September 2019. This initiative brought together countries and companies which are committed to achieving the targets set by the Paris Agreement.
In his address, Yadav talked about activities started under the LeadIT initiative, including the road mapping exercise undertaken for the cement and steel sector in India. He added that similar exercises will be carried out in other member countries of LeadIT. Yadav stressed that co-development is the only way to achieve the climate target the world has set for itself.
He noted, “the low carbon transition of the industrial sector will not only contribute towards the reduction in required greenhouse gas emissions. It has several co-benefits that include increasing resilience to changes in climate, enhanced energy security, innovation, socio-economic development and job creation.”
The ongoing phase of this initiative will end in 2023, and next year performance and achievement of the initiative will be looked upon along with deliberation on the post-2023 process.
LeadIT summit concluded with the adoption of the summit statement by the members. The members reiterated their commitment to pursue low carbon transition in the industrial sector. The members also pledged to provide technical assistance to new members and other emerging economies.
Later, LeadIT Summit Statement 2022 was launched at the India Pavillion at COP 27. The public launch was attended by representatives from countries, industry, media and civil society.