Hosting our first Asia Action Summit in Singapore, we brought together nearly 300 of the region’s energy and industry leaders, alongside business and government representatives to answer a single, urgent question: how can Asia become the green economic powerhouse of the future?
The agenda provided a space for intimate roundtable discussions focused on specific issues, and bigger conversations on stage touching on some inspiring examples of corporate climate leadership and future steps that need to be taken. Topics ranged from green hydrogen, technology delivering energy efficiency, a just transition, steel supply chains and crucially, Asia’s role in being a driving force in these areas.
Signing on the dotted line
A special moment at the start of the SteelZero Summit was the opportunity for CIMC TCREA, the steel buying division of one of the world’s leading shipping logistics and container solutions companies, to officially sign up as a member of SteelZero. CIMC TCREA has committed to using 100% net zero steel by 2050 at the very latest, sending a clear signal to steel producers, policy makers and investors, many of whom were in the room, that there’s a real demand for net zero steel.
Liu Bin, Director and General Manager of CIMC TCREA said during the ceremony, "we need to look forward to the net zero transition. We need to look at the long-term developments and impact on human beings. We need to come together; every corporation is faced with carbon neutrality."
Showing the business case
Corporate members of our systems like RE100 and SteelZero are the backbone of Climate Group and the events that we run. Hearing examples of their leadership and the challenges they have faced along the way provides other businesses with insights and learnings and ensures that policymakers understand the barriers that corporates face when looking to adopt renewable electricity.
We got the chance to hear from RE100 members Delta Electronics and Cathay Financial Holdings, SteelZero member Ørsted, as well as Amazon’s Climate Pledge on what these businesses have been doing to integrate renewables into their operations. Ørsted showed how it was working on a 920 MW offshore wind project in Taiwan for the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, and RE100 member, TSMC. According to Angela Treanor, Head of APAC Revenue & Origination at Ørsted, “All stakeholders voices can help with regulatory challenges for renewables development”, and it’s important to have “sustainable local content policies” to deliver localised manufacturing in areas such as green steel which can help drive down cost for construction.
The future of green steel
In the leading steelmaking region in the world, we attendees discussed how the Asia-Pacific region can drive the global steel industry’s net zero transition. Throughout the morning and the conversations with government and industry representatives, several key themes emerged for the successful transition to the development of net zero steel. Supply chain collaboration, technical and market trends, technological innovations and financial support and investments were all central themes discussed. Common standards and definitions were also discussed, laying the groundwork for progress towards a global market for green steel.
Summing up the importance of the discussions of the day, His Excellency Key Young Kim, Vice Governor, of Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea and the Asia-Pacific Co-Chair of the Under2 Coalition of State and Regional Governments said, "International cooperation to tackle climate change is crucial to achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gases and controlling the rise in global temperatures collectively…The Climate Group Asia Action Summit has provided an opportunity for governments and companies to discuss concerted measures of working together to decarbonise the steel industry, while maintaining its pivotal role in the global economy."
In a few short months, we’ll be hosting the world’s largest climate event of its kind in New York, Climate Week NYC, where the conversations will be even bigger, more diverse but no less urgent. Stay tuned.
