India and Sweden co chair the 6th Annual LeadIT Summit in Baku

India and Sweden co-chaired the 6th Annual Summit of the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Summit meeting was held on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Summit, Conference of Parties 29 (COP29), which was held in the Azerbaijani capital city of Baku from 11 to 22 November 2024.

India and Sweden jointly launched the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) at the United Nations  Climate Action Summit in September 2019 in New York City, United States of America.

The LeadIT2.0 was launched during the CoP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2023, and it has set a new target for 2024-26.

Kirit Vardhan Singh, Co-Chair of the meeting 

Kirti Vardhan Singh, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and Ms. Romina Pourmokhtari, Swedish Minister for Climate and Environment, co-chaired the summit meeting. 

It was attended by 41 member countries of the Leadership Group for Industry Transition and other stakeholders from industry, and academic etc.

Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT)?

The Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) is an initiative of India and Sweden and is supported by the World Economic Forum.

It brings together the countries that are committed to the goal of the 2015 Paris Climate Conference.

The Paris Climate Conference aims to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels”. Every country has to make a commitment and plan to reduce its net carbon emissions to achieve this goal.

Aim 

• LeadIT was set up to target energy-intensive industries where it was very difficult to reduce carbon emissions.
• LeadIT aims to bring net zero carbon emissions from energy-intensive heavy industry by 2050.

How to achieve this goal?

The LeadIT aims to facilitate the transition to net zero carbon emission by the energy-intensive heavy industry by:  

• Encouraging and developing public-private partnerships;
• Mobilisng resources for the development of technologies and products that will help in the transition to net zero emission ;
• Support knowledge sharing so that innovation or breakthroughs in the sector are available to all.
• Provide a secure space for a meaningful dialogue between the industry and the governments.
• Support emerging economies by establishing country-specific partnerships to accelerate their industries’s transition to low carbon emission through coordinated multilateral technical and financial assistance. 

World Economic Forum 

The World Economic Forum is an international non-governmental organisation founded by German Professor Klaus Schwab in 1971.

The Forum provides a platform for the world's political, business, academic, civil society, and other leaders to discuss global, regional, and industry-specific agendas..

Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.