below50: Low-carbon fuels powering the energy transition
We Mean Business Coalition
The global market for sustainable fuels is key for companies embracing the shift to the low-carbon transition.
below50 is a ground-breaking initiative that brings forward-thinking businesses together with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Roundtable for Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) and Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) to promote the best-of-breed of sustainable fuels that can achieve significant carbon reductions, and scale up their development and use.
The sustainable fuels market is expected to reach US$185 billion by 2021 and offers major benefits for business in terms of meeting their carbon reduction targets, while also supporting the Paris Agreement.
For example, low-carbon fuels alone are predicted to reduce CO2 emissions by around 500 million tons by 2030. According to the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC), low-carbon fuels constitute the most advanced alternative technology to date to decarbonize the energy system, beyond the power sector.
Low carbon fuels “…play a major role in enabling the decarbonization of transport activities where electrification may be either a sub-optimal solution (in the case of long-distance, heavy-duty freight) or unfeasible in the foreseeable future (in the case of passenger aviation).”
Even though it’s poised to take off, this growth market faces issues that need to be addressed. Over the next 25 years, there will be increased competition for land and water, given growing demand for food, animal feed, bioenergy, forest products and renewable energy, as well as for carbon sequestering forest or other land management approaches.
The below50 initiative addresses these and other issues through 13 sustainability criteria that projects must comply with to be part of the growing sustainable fuel pool. This is the first time ever that producers and consumers of fuels have agreed on the necessary sustainability criteria for scaling up these solutions irrespective of technology or feedstock.
The below50 initiative demonstrates that business has solutions, and aims to create demand for low-carbon fuels and scale up their deployment by increasing the number of companies choosing sustainable alternative fuels. This will create cross-sectoral opportunities along supply chains, while addressing legislative and financial barriers to bring these fuels into the mainstream.
Find out how companies can engage with below50 >
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