Net Zero World Initiative

The United States, partner countries, and philanthropies are joining forces to accelerate the transition to clean, secure energy systems and build a Net Zero World.

The Net Zero World Initiative leverages expertise across U.S. government agencies and Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories, in partnership with other governments and philanthropies, to accelerate the decarbonization of global energy systems.

This whole-of-government approach supports countries committed to raising their climate ambitions by creating and implementing highly tailored, actionable technical and investment strategies that put net zero within reach. The Net Zero World Initiative enables country partners to harness the power and technical expertise of U.S. and international industry, think tanks, and universities.

Strategic Objectives

The Net Zero World Initiative signals the commitment of the United States to a global transition to net zero emission, inclusive, equitable, and resilient energy systems.

Develop and support ambitious technical, market, and investment strategies for clean energy transformation—The initiative collaborates with partners to develop country-specific technical and investment plans detailing the crosscutting planning and deployment strategies needed at national, regional, and local levels.

Deliver holistic support for immediate and sustained transformative projects that maximize overall impact for the region—The initiative supports, for example, the development of cross-sector project pipelines and infrastructure modernization plans for partnering with the private sector and developing robust research, development, demonstration, and deployment partnerships to quickly advance technologies from research to implementation.

Foster exchanges between U.S. leaders and among countries to support peer-to-peer learning and confidence building—The initiative supports exchanges between U.S. states and cities, business leaders, and across countries to inform technical and investment plans and key design and implementation measures to enable peer-to-peer learning, tailored replication of successes, and confidence building. The initiative also provides implementation support for workforce development programs, with particular emphasis on gender equity and the inclusion of underrepresented groups.

First Net Zero World Industry Forum

On Dec. 6, 2022, clean energy industry leaders, country partners, U.S. government leaders, and representatives from Department of Energy national labs gathered for the inaugural Net Zero World Industry Forum, hosted by the Department of Commerce. For the first time, businesses were able to explore opportunities to engage with the initiative, which is partnering with countries to expand access to clean energy around the globe.

The event opened with remarks by Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves, Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change Rick Duke, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova, and Department of Energy Assistant Secretary Andrew Light. Country coordinators from Net Zero World’s Action Center shared presentations, and a panel with U.S. government agencies on Finance and Investment Resources, along with breakout dialogues on country-specific technical cooperation, brought together industry professionals and Net Zero World representatives to identify areas for cooperation.

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Resources

By joining the Net Zero World Initiative, partners gain access to:

• Immediate and sustained access to expert technical, deployment, and investment analysis and facilitation from the U.S. government, including the U.S. DOE’s world-class national laboratories
• Targeted support for in-country technical institutions to build long-term, self-sustaining technical capacity
• Deep collaboration to develop technical and investment plans and support implementation for technology project design and testing, infrastructure modernization, enabling policies and measures, investment analysis and facilitation, capacity building and workforce development, and other critical actions needed to achieve near- and long-term energy system decarbonization.

The Net Zero World Initiative addresses energy-systemwide and specific decarbonization measures and approaches for the following sectors: buildings, transport, power, industry, storage, nuclear, carbon capture and geologic storage, and energy use in agriculture.

The Net Zero World Initiative will aim to achieve the following milestones:

Net Zero World Partners

To date, the following countries and philanthropies have joined a broad team of U.S. government agencies and U.S. DOE national laboratories in the Net Zero World Initiative:

U.S. federal agencies: The Export Import Bank of the U.S., The Millennium Challenge Corp., U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. DOE, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of the Treasury, U.S. Trade and Development Agency, U.S. International Development Finance Corp.

Governments: Argentina, Chile, Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria, Singapore, Thailand, Ukraine

Philanthropies: Breakthrough Energy, Lynne and Marc Benioff, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet

U.S. national laboratories: Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, National Energy Technology Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories

To learn more, watch the Net Zero World Initiative launch session at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference on the U.S. Center YouTube channel and the featured video that highlights the cross-laboratory involvement.

Contact Ron Benioff or Marcy Rood with any inquiries.