WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm traveled to Glasgow, Scotland for the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26). As a key member of the U.S. delegation, the Secretary convened a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings with her international counterparts to drive forward collaboration that will raise global climate ambition, accelerate the pace of clean energy innovation and deployment, and create millions of jobs in a clean energy economy, at home and abroad.  

In the U.S. Pavilion on the COP26 stage, the Secretary was joined by the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, to announce Net Zero World—DOE’s flagship contribution to President Biden’s Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative. Through Net Zero World, countries announced they will work with the United States in a whole-of-government approach and with DOE’s 17 national laboratories, along with private entities, to create and implement tailored, actionable technology road maps and investment strategies that put net zero within reach. Participating philanthropic groups include Breakthrough Energy, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, Lynne and Marc Benioff, and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Founding partners are Argentina, Chile, Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Ukraine, with more countries on track to join. WATCH here.

To realize a net-zero future, Secretary Granholm launched the Carbon Negative Shot, the United States’ first major effort to reduce cost and scale up carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies. As the third focus of the DOE’s Energy Earthshots initiative, the Carbon Negative Shot aims to advance innovation in the expanding CDR field to remove gigatons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and durably store it for less than $100/ton of net CO2-equivalent.  

WATCH Secretary Granholm announce the Carbon Negative Shot and DOE’s CDR Ministerial with Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources and Saudi Arabia’s Chief Negotiator for Climate Agreements 

Highlights from Secretary Granholm’s visit to Glasgow, Scotland:

• Listen to Secretary Granholm’s press call on DOE’s first day at COP26.
• Watch Secretary Granholm celebrate the announcement of the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as the host city for the 2022 Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) and the ministerial for Mission Innovation (MI) —a collective effort by the public and private sector to rapidly create the net-zero economy that leaves no community behind.
• Read Secretary Granholm and UK Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng’s launch of the US-UK Strategic Energy Dialogue.
• Secretary Granholm met with counterparts from Canada, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Australia and other countries while at COP26 to further strengthen partnerships and determine new ways to accelerate the clean energy transition across the globe. 
•  U.S. governors met with Secretary Granholm at COP26 to discuss how the U.S. can take a whole of society approach to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. 

Additional DOE announcements made at COP26 to advance climate and clean energy goals include:

• The Better Climate Challenge— DOE is challenging companies, states, municipalities, and other organizations to commit to reducing emissions from enterprise-wide operations—that’s buildings and manufacturing—by at least 50% within 10 years. DOE will support their efforts with technical assistance and peer to peer learning to share solutions to reduce emissions from their facilities and fleets and through power purchasing decisions. This effort will build on over a decade of experience through the Better Buildings Initiative. DOE has started engaging leaders across the U.S. economy leading to 32 organizations already joining the Better Climate Challenge. Learn more.
   
• U.S. Nuclear Technology Sales to Romania— Secretary Granholm and Romanian Minster of Energy Virgil Popescu announced a new agreement to build a “first-of-a-kind” small modular reactor (SMR) plant in Romania in partnership with U.S. NuScale Power, bringing the latest civil nuclear technology to a critical part of Europe. Learn more.
   
• Global Clean Technology Incubator Network— DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory will partner with other national labs, technical institutions, investors and corporations, governments, and philanthropies around the world to create a global network of clean energy incubators. This public-private partnership will work with entrepreneurs and corporations to scale up the development, financing, and adoption of low to zero emission clean energy innovations in emerging and developed markets. Partners from India, South Africa, Chile, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway, South Korea are ready to team with U.S. counterparts on this incubator initiative. 
   
• H2 Twin Cities Launch— H2 Twin Cities will accelerate hydrogen deployments by having regions and communities pair up and showcase best practices and lessons learned to ramp up scale. Through H2 Twin Cities, communities will partner to share ideas, mentor and learn from each other, build a community of hydrogen best practices, and strengthen global action to make environmental justice, social equity, and clean energy jobs central to hydrogen deployment. This initiative is being launched in collaboration with other countries and part of the United States’ deliverables under the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) Hydrogen Initiative. 
   
• Global Nuclear Energy Transitions and Communities— The Nuclear Energy Transitions and Communities initiative and the CEM Researching Impacts on Social Equity and Economic Empowerment (RISE3) Expert Group will accelerate the replacement of unabated coal plants with new advanced nuclear technologies through breakthrough nuclear innovations. These initiatives will provide expert resources and create a blueprint for countries transitioning to a clean and just energy economy with nuclear as a key pillar.  The initiative will focus on nuclear’s role in advancing environmental justice and equity; integrating variable renewable resources to the grid; and uplifting economies and quality of life, especially through coal plant conversions.  

Read Secretary Granholm’s Key Speeches:

• Making the Global Transition to Clean Power a Reality 
• Accelerating a Just and Inclusive Energy Transition
• Net Zero World
• Going Carbon Negative 

Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk will attend COP26 Monday, November 8th through Wednesday, November 10th.

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