THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2024 45 efforts under ZEMBA to ship 600,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) on zero-emission vessels over three years, which will result in close to 1 million tons of CO2 emissions reduction. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is increasingly seen as a critical decarbonization tool if we are to hit the Paris climate goals. Up to 10 billion tons of CDR per year is expected to be needed by 2050, according to the median estimates of scenarios considered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). FMC decided in 2022 to also launch a CDR program under which members commit to contract for at least 50,000 tonnes or $25 million worth of durable and scalable CO2 removal by 2030. To date, while advance purchases for engineered CDR are only at a total of about 11 million tonnes—a minuscule fraction of what is needed—FMC members and implementation partners represent more than 80 percent of that total. Microsoft is leading the charge, accounting for more than 60 percent of all engineered CDR purchases made to date. Among the deals concluded is a 2023 agreement with fellow FMC member Orsted and Aker Carbon Capture, committing to one of the world’s largest carbon removal agreements—2.76 million tonnes of durable CDR over 11 years. These collaborations are a testament to the power that demand signals and early procurement commitments can play in accelerating the deployment of emerging clean energy Six economically essential sectors—aluminum, cement and concrete, steel, aviation, shipping, and trucking—currently account for a third of global emissions.
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