MI-7

21 – 23 September, 2022 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA 

Hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy and Carnegie Mellon University

 

From September 21-23, 2022 the first Global Clean Energy Action Forum (GCEAF) convened  the 13th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) and 7th Mission Innovation Ministerial (MI), involving Ministers and Heads of Delegation from 34 countries, along with thousands of participants from the clean energy community of companies, civil society, investors, youth, labor, innovators, and academics, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

The 23 governments and the EU, collaborating through Mission Innovation (MI), set out National Innovation Pathways and launched MI Mission Action Plans to deliver 221 demonstration projects globally this decade, accelerating clean energy technologies in the hardest to abate sectors. The announcement, made at the 7th MI ministerial meeting in Pittsburgh, will drive public-private investment in technologies which need to be commercialised by 2030, including: at least 50 large-scale demonstration projects to decarbonise energy-intensive industries like steel, cement and chemicals; five projects on five continents to demonstrate the integration of up to 80% renewable energy into energy grids; and the identification of 100 ‘hydrogen valleys’ worldwide.

Together, the announcements set a global innovation blueprint for the action needed this decade to make clean energy solutions affordable, attractive and available for all.

This responds to the IEA assessment that at least USD$ 90 billion of public funding is needed by 2026 to demonstrate the technologies necessary to decarbonise global energy systems by 2050, contingent on international cooperation to prove solutions quickly at scale in multiple configurations and in various regional contexts, with learning transferred across projects to build confidence. The seven MI ‘Missions’ provide the mechanism to drive this international collaboration and coordination, allowing governments to work together and with the private sector to target investment and action.

Members recognised the need for strengthened engagement between the public and private sectors, across a range of hard-to-abate sectors and cross-cutting technologies, announcing a collaboration agreement with the Mission Possible Partnership. Members also committed to improving the tracking and transparency of global energy innovation progress, including demonstrations, announcing enhanced collaboration agreements with the IEA and IRENA.

The meeting emphasised the importance of strengthening coordination from innovation to deployment, with the announcement that the Breakthrough Agenda will come under the joint stewardship of Mission Innovation and the Clean Energy Ministerial, initially for a year. This further cements MI and CEM as key centres of gravity for international clean energy collaboration within a strengthened and better organised global architecture.

Members emphasized that they cannot deliver this blueprint alone, calling on other governments, businesses, investors, philanthropies and innovators to work with them to step up innovation efforts to achieve these goals.

Read more about Mission Innovation’s announcements here.