19 Leading Companies Signal Support for Energy Transition Accelerator

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Sep 24, 2024, 13:02 ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nineteen major companies today affirmed their support for an accelerated and just clean energy transition, discussing how high-integrity carbon credits can provide a critical source of climate finance and play an important role as part of individual corporate climate strategies. The discussion took place at a private sector roundtable at Climate Week NYC hosted by the Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA), a high-integrity carbon finance platform aimed at catalyzing private capital to support ambitious just energy transition strategies in developing and emerging economies.

Fourteen of the companies – Amazon, Bank of America, Boston Consulting Group, E.ON, Mastercard, McDonald's, Meta, Morgan Stanley, Nike, PepsiCo, REI-Co-op, Salesforce, Schneider Electric, and Standard Chartered Bank – have signed a Letter of Interest since the ETA formed welcoming the ETA as an opportunity to support large-scale power sector transformation while accelerating progress towards their ambitious climate goals. "We further believe the ETA has the potential to serve as a model of high integrity in voluntary carbon markets," the companies wrote in the letter.

The U.S. Department of State, the Bezos Earth Fund, and The Rockefeller Foundation formed the ETA in 2022 to eventually connect willing sellers and buyers employing high-integrity carbon crediting to support faster energy transition. The ETA will pioneer an innovative sectoral-scale approach to carbon crediting that will enable host countries to generate high-quality carbon credits as a way to finance their transition from fossil-generated to clean power, delivering faster, deeper greenhouse gas reductions and improving the lives of vulnerable people. The ETA is collaborating with the World Bank and its Scaling Climate Action by Lowering Emissions (SCALE) partnership to support host countries in developing power sector projects, policies, and carbon market infrastructure needed to generate high-integrity emissions reductions in a participatory and inclusive way.

Today's roundtable featured remarks by former Secretary of State and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, who serves as the Honorary Chair of the ETA Senior Consultative Group. In addition to the corporate leaders, he was joined by senior officials from the Department of State and the World Bank Group; senior representatives of the Bezos Earth Fund, The Rockefeller Foundation, and C2ES, serving as the ETA's secretariat; members of ETA's newly established Senior Consultative Group; and senior representatives from Chile and the Dominican Republic as ETA pilot countries and the Philippines as an observer country. The roundtable discussion centered on the essential leadership role corporations aim to play to accelerate clean energy investment and keep a 1.5°C limit on warming within reach.

The full text of the corporate letter is available here.

Roundtable participants included:

Secretary John Kerry, 68th U.S. Secretary of State, former Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, and Honorary Chair, ETA Senior Consultative Group
Sue Biniaz, Principal Deputy Special Envoy for Climate, U.S. Department of State
Elizabeth Yee, Executive Vice President, The Rockefeller Foundation
Kelley Kizzier, Director of Corporate Action and Markets, Bezos Earth Fund
Nat Keohane, President, C2ES and ETA Secretariat
Jennifer Sara, Global Director, World Bank Group's Global Department for Climate Change
Demetrios Papathanasiou, Global Director, World Bank Group's Energy and Extractives Global Department
Arunabha Ghosh, Founder-CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW)
Rachel Kyte, Co-Chair, Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) 
Mary Nichols, Vice Chair, California-China Climate Institute
Leila Pourarkin, Partner, Kaya Partners
Anne Finucane, Senior Advisor to TPG Rise Climate and Former Vice Chair, Bank of America
Amazon
Bank of America
Boston Consulting Group
E.ON
IHG Hotels & Resorts
Mastercard
McDonald's
Meta
Morgan Stanley
Netflix
Nike
PepsiCo
REI-Co-op
Salesforce
Santander
Schneider Electric
Standard Chartered Bank
Tiffany & Co.
Trane Technologies
Minister Joel Santos Echavarria, Ministry of Energy and Mines, Dominican Republic
Chadia Abreu, Advisor, Energy Regulation and Climate Solutions, Ministry of Energy and Mines, Dominican Republic
Juan Pedro Searle, Head of Climate Change and Carbon Pricing, Ministry of Energy, Chile
Michael O. Sinocruz, Director, Department of Energy, Philippines

About the Bezos Earth Fund:
The Bezos Earth Fund is helping transform the fight against climate change with the largest ever philanthropic commitment to climate and nature protection. Jeff Bezos has committed $10 billion in this decisive decade to protect nature and address climate change. By providing funding and expertise, we partner with organizations to accelerate innovation, break down barriers to success and create a more equitable and sustainable world. Join us in our mission to create a world where people prosper in harmony with nature.

About The Rockefeller Foundation:
The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity. Today, we are focused on advancing human opportunity and reversing the climate crisis by transforming systems in food, health, energy, and finance. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at rockefellerfoundation.org and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn.

SOURCE The Rockefeller Foundation