Since its launch at COP 26, the Breakthrough Agenda has become established as an annual collaborative process centred around the Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It is currently supported by 59 countries representing over 80% of global GDP, and by over 100 initiatives working to enhance collaboration within major emitting sectors. Countries can endorse Breakthrough goals to make clean technologies and sustainable practices more affordable, accessible and attractive than their alternatives by 2030 in the power, road transport, hydrogen, steel, cement, buildings and agriculture sectors. This report covers six of the seven sectors, with agricultural covered in a separate report.
The Breakthrough Agenda establishes an annual cycle to track developments towards these goals, identify where further coordinated international action is urgently needed to accelerate progress and then galvanise public and private international action behind these specific priorities in order to make these transitions quicker, cheaper, and easier for all.
To initiate this cycle, world leaders tasked the IEA and the UN Climate Change High Level Champions to develop an annual Breakthrough Agenda report to provide an independent evidence base and expert recommendations for where stronger international collaboration is needed.
This document, the 2024 Breakthrough Agenda Report, is the third of these annual reports. It provides an assessment of progress against the recommendations made last year, updating recommendations for what more needs to be done.
- Pages
- 174
- Published in
- France
Table of Contents
- The Breakthrough Agenda Report 2024 -1
- Foreword 4
- Acknowledgements 5
- Table of Contents 7
- Executive summary 8
- Strengthening international collaboration to accelerate transitions 8
- Good progress has been made in some areas, but there is much more to gain from international collaboration 8
- Priorities to strengthen international collaboration 10
- Power 11
- Recommendations 11
- Progress summary 12
- Hydrogen 14
- Recommendations 14
- Progress summary 15
- Road transport 17
- Recommendations 17
- Progress summary 18
- Steel 20
- Recommendations 20
- Progress summary 21
- Cement 23
- Recommendations 23
- Progress summary 24
- Buildings 25
- Recommendations 25
- Progress summary 26
- Chapter 1. Introduction 27
- State of the transition 27
- The role of international collaboration 29
- The Breakthrough Agenda 30
- Approach to this report 31
- Chapter 2. Power 34
- State of the transition 34
- State of international collaboration 35
- Improve the effectiveness of technical and financial assistance for the power sector transition 37
- Overview 37
- What progress has been made? 37
- What more needs to be done? 38
- Recommendation P1 has been updated as follows: 39
- Improve targeted support for local jobs, skills and investment in fossil fuel-dependent communities 40
- Overview 40
- What progress has been made? 40
- What more needs to be done? 41
- Recommendation P2 has been updated as follows: 42
- Accelerate the deployment of priority projects showcasing novel technologies and solutions across multiple regions 42
- Overview 42
- What progress has been made? 42
- What more needs to be done? 43
- Recommendation P3 has been updated as follows: 44
- Reassess opportunities for cross-border electricity trade, accelerated by enhanced technical support 44
- Overview 44
- What progress has been made? 44
- What more needs to be done? 46
- Recommendation P4 has been restated as follows: 47
- Collectively agree higher minimum energy performance standards for major electricity consuming appliances 48
- Overview 48
- What progress has been made? 48
- What more needs to be done? 49
- Recommendation P5 has been restated as follows: 51
- Recommended reports 51
- Chapter 3. Hydrogen 52
- State of the transition 52
- State of international collaboration 53
- Accelerating the development of common standards for hydrogen supply chain emissions, safety and operations with increased government support 55
- Overview 55
- What progress has been made? 56
- What more needs to be done? 58
- Recommendation H1 has been updated as follows: 61
- Co-ordinating action to create targeted demand for low-carbon and renewable hydrogen, starting with existing industrial applications 61
- Overview 61
- What progress has been made? 62
- What more needs to be done? 64
- Recommendation H2 has been restated as follows: 65
- Driving global expansion and knowledge-sharing of hydrogen demonstration projects for diverse high-priority sectors 65
- Overview 65
- What progress has been made? 66
- What more needs to be done? 67
- Recommendation H3 has been restated as follows: 68
- Collaborate for the rapid scale-up of private investment alongside concessional finance for low-carbon and renewable hydrogen projects in developing economies 68
- Overview 69
- What progress has been made? 69
- What more needs to be done? 71
- Recommendation H4 has been updated as follows: 72
- Recommended reports 72
- Chapter 4. Road Transport 73
- State of the transition 73
- State of international collaboration 74
- Aligning the pace of the transition internationally to shift investment and accelerate cost reduction 77
- Overview 77
- What progress has been made? 78
- What more needs to be done? 81
- Recommendation RT1 has been updated as follows: 82
- Providing international assistance to emerging economies 83
- Overview 83
- What progress has been made? 83
- What more needs to be done? 84
- Recommendation RT2 has been updated as follows: 86
- Agreeing on standards for battery supply chains 87
- Overview 87
- What progress has been made? 87
- What more needs to be done? 88
- Recommendation RT3 has been updated as follows: 90
- Developing charging infrastructure 90
- Overview 90
- What progress has been made? 91
- What more needs to be done? 92
- Recommendation RT4 has been updated as follows: 94
- Taking polluting vehicles out of international trade 94
- Overview 94
- What progress has been made? 94
- What more needs to be done? 96
- Recommendation RT5 has been restated as follows: 96
- Recommended reports 96
- Chapter 5. Steel 98
- State of the transition 98
- State of international collaboration 99
- Greater alignment on emissions accounting methodologies and definitions for near-zero emission steel 101
- Overview 101
- What progress has been made? 101
- What more needs to be done? 104
- Recommendation S1 has been updated as follows: 106
- Further scale-up of high-quality demand commitments for near-zero emission steel 106
- Overview 106
- What progress has been made? 106
- What more needs to be done? 109
- Recommendation S2 has been updated as follows: 111
- Stronger collaboration on development and demonstration, making use of successful co-operative models 111
- Overview 111
- What progress has been made? 111
- What more needs to be done? 112
- Recommendation S3 has been updated as follows: 113
- All major steel producing countries to engage in open and inclusive dialogues on trade and near-zero emission steel 113
- Overview 113
- What progress has been made? 114
- What more needs to be done? 115
- Recommendation S4 has been updated as follows: 116
- Improving the effectiveness of technical and financial assistance for industry decarbonisation projects 116
- Overview 116
- What progress has been made? 116
- What more needs to be done? 118
- Recommendation S5 has been updated as follows: 119
- Recommended reports 119
- Chapter 6. Cement 121
- State of the transition 121
- State of international collaboration 122
- Agree common standards, definitions and guidelines for cement and concrete production and use 124
- Overview 124
- What progress has been made? 124
- What more needs to be done? 126
- Recommendation C1 has been updated as follows: 127
- Rapidly scale up high-quality demand commitments for near-zero emission cement and concrete 127
- Overview 127
- What progress has been made? 127
- What more needs to be done? 129
- Recommendation C2 has been updated as follows: 130
- Facilitate private sector collaboration on novel technologies, using public support to drive cost reductions in all regions 130
- Overview 130
- What progress has been made? 131
- What more needs to be done? 131
- Recommendation C3 has been updated as follows: 132
- What more needs to be done? 134
- Recommendation C4 has been updated as follows: 134
- Recommended reports 135
- Chapter 7. Buildings 136
- State of the transition 136
- State of international collaboration 137
- Work to agree key definitions and increase the comparability of codes, standards and certification of near-zero and resilient buildings 139
- Overview 139
- What progress has been made? 140
- What more needs to be done? 140
- Recommendation B1 has been updated as follows: 141
- Amplify demand for near-zero emissions and resilient buildings, construction materials and clean energy technologies 141
- Overview 141
- What progress has been made? 142
- What more needs to be done? 143
- Recommendation B2 has been updated as follows: 144
- Co-ordinate efforts to increase technical and financial assistance to unlock private investments 144
- Overview 144
- What progress has been made? 144
- What more needs to be done? 145
- Recommendation B3 has been updated as follows: 146
- Co-ordinate support for research, development and demonstration to accelerate the deployment of key technologies and concepts 147
- Overview 147
- What progress has been made? 147
- What more needs to be done? 148
- Recommendation B4 has been updated as follows: 149
- Improve the training and capacity-building offer for stakeholders along the value chain, in both the public and private sector – with a focus on building and energy codes 149
- Overview 149
- What progress has been made? 150
- What more needs to be done? 151
- Recommendation B5 has been restated as follows: 152
- Recommended reports 152
- Chapter 8. Cross-cutting 153
- Leveraging cross-cutting opportunities 153
- Establish clear structures for international collaboration within sectors 153
- Recommendation CC1 has been restated as follows: 155
- Strengthen the provision of technical assistance and finance, to ensure it is sufficient, coherent, accessible and effective across all sectors 156
- Recommendation CC2 has been restated as follows: 158
- Agree on net zero-aligned trading arrangements that can enable a faster transition across sectors and regions 158
- Recommendation CC3 has been updated as follows: 161
- Urgently scale up demonstration projects for clean technologies in areas of greatest need 161
- Recommendation CC4 has been restated as follows: 162
- Accelerate the construction of international infrastructure to support the transition in multiple sectors 163
- Recommendation CC5 has been restated as follows: 164
- Provide clear guidance on and verification of emission reduction standards’ compatibility with net zero to facilitate greater use 164
- Recommendation CC6 has been restated as follows: 165
- Annex 167
