Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has received a $10 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund to help significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in both US buildings and in energy-intensive industrial and transport sectors.
RMI's Carbon-Free Buildings campaign will receive $8 million to reduce GHG emissions from homes, commercial structures, and other buildings, enabling RMI to increase its current work with a coalition of partners in key states. The project will focus on making all US buildings carbon-free by 2040 by advocating for all-electric new construction and retrofitting existing homes and businesses to reduce their carbon footprint.
In addition, $2 million will allow RMI and its partners to kickstart efforts via the Mission Possible Partnership, Aimed at supercharging industrial decarbonization over the next 10 years, this work will focus on scaling up high-ambition, net-zero initiatives across the energy-intensive global industries representing 30% of global emissions: aviation, shipping, heavy road transport, aluminum, steel, chemical and cement.
According to RMI, the buildings sector is responsible for 35% of the United States' total carbon emissions and construction of buildings is a $1 trillion per year industry. Transforming this sector will require additional support from governments, NGOs, and the private sector. This grant is an important catalyst that ensures RMI can build upon its work currently underway to decarbonize the US building stock by spurring all-electric, efficient, and grid-interactive buildings while working with states, industry, and multi-family affordable housing owners to retrofit both residential and commercial buildings.
The Mission Possible Partnership orchestrates global platforms that allow leading industrial companies, their customers, suppliers, and capital providers to chart a common course to net-zero transformation as well as the commitments needed to make that a reality. Support from the Bezos Earth Fund provides a substantial boost for this new initiative.