On the Energy Day at COP29, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Climate Club launched the Global Matchmaking Platform (GMP). The initiative focused on accelerating decarbonisation in heavy-emitting industries was launched in the presence of partner countries, key donor and partner organisations. The launch event highlights the annual funding gap of US$125 billion to reach the goal of net zero emissions.
The GMP for industry decarbonisation is being built as a support mechanism of the Climate Club, with the secretariat hosted by the UNIDO. Its activities are also supported by the Climate Club interim Secretariat jointly hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The matchmaking process aims to address the unique needs of different countries and providing the right support. The launch unveiled that pilot project discussions are already underway in countries like Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco, and Cambodia. The details of the project have not been mentioned.
Among the parties present were Germany and Chile, co-chairs of the climate club, Uruguay, Turkiye, Bangladesh and Indonesia. Non-state parties included UNIDO, World Bank, Climate Investment Funds (CIF), and GIZ who will act as delivery partners and help strengthen cooperation between countries, international organisations, and the private sector.
Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 President, said: “At COP29, we are focused on enhancing ambition and enabling action on the greatest challenge facing the global community, climate change. The GMP for industrial decarbonisation, launched at COP29 by the UNIDO and Climate Club, will support the decarbonisation of some of the heaviest emitting industries. Promoting the green energy transition is a key priority for the COP29 Presidency and the GMP will play an important role in helping us to meet our collective climate goals.”
Estimates by the International Energy Agency, which hosts the climate club interim secretariat along with OECD, suggest that annual investments in new production plants compatible with net-zero pathways for steel, cement, chemicals and aluminium production currently amount only to $15 billion. This needs to increase to $70 billion by 2030 and $125 billion by 2050.
Heavy emitting sectors represent 70 per cent of the total CO2 emissions from the global industrial sectors. The challenge of industrial decarbonisation is criticial to Emerging and developing economies (EMDEs) which are often faced with the multiple challenges of development coupled with the lack of resources, capacity and technology to switch to cleaner industrial methods.
Climate Policy Initiative’s Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2024 reports industry accounts for almost 30 per cent of global CO2 emissions but flows to transition this sector to low-carbon technologies only represented 1.4 per cent of total mitigation finance from 2018 to 2022.
Tariye Gbadegesin, Climate Investment Funds Chief Executive Officer, said: “Industry will be one of the most challenging sectors to decarbonise, with demand for industrial products rising and many promising low-carbon technologies still in their infancy. This is where climate finance can be a game-changer, helping fast-growing economies to pilot and scale up cutting-edge solutions and shift their expanding industrial sectors to a net-zero, climate-resilient pathway. CIF is proud to be part of the new Global Matchmaking Platform, designed to more easily link developing countries to critical sources of finance and assistance.”
The GMP was part of the three modules under the Climate club work programme for 2024. The Climate Club was launched at COP28 in Dubai last year — an initiative aimed at cooperation between countries in decarbonising the industrial sector. Led by Germany and Chile, the Club has garnered support from 38 member countries including Kenya, the European Union, Switzerland and others. They have each committed to efforts in developing strategies and standards for decarbonisation.
The Climate Club members’ statement to COP29 underlined the new work programme for 2025-26. The work programme progresses the work on three pillars —
Pillar 1: Advancing ambitious and transparent climate change mitigation policies
Pillar 2: Transforming industries
Pillar 3: Boosting international climate cooperation and partnerships.
Under the work programme for 2025-26, the GMP strives to accelerate industrial decarbonisation by matching requests for assistance from EMDEs with existing and possibly new international technical and financial resources, including assistance to incorporate industrial decarbonisation into the design of the new nationally determined contributions (NDCs) that will be tabled next year at COP30 by parties.
Talking about the partnerships under the Climate Club, Parth Kumar, programme manager (Industrial pollution), Centre for Science and Environment, said, “Generally, these types of platforms facilitate partnerships among large companies and organisations present in different countries which may be capable of making these collaborations even beyond such global platforms. The real need of support and partnership lies with the small and medium scale industrial sectors in developing countries, which also have substantial emissions and actually require technical and financial support for transformation.”