Department of Energy Releases Bold Agenda to Reduce Industrial Emissions

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released its Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap — a comprehensive report identifying four key pathways to reduce industrial emissions in American manufacturing. The roadmap emphasizes the urgency of dramatically cutting carbon emissions and pollution from the industrial sector, and presents a staged research, development and demonstration (RD&D) agenda for industry and government. DOE also announced a $104 million funding opportunity to advance industrial decarbonization technologies. These announcements build on the historic boost to American manufacturing through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law ($62 billion) and the Inflation Reduction Act ($10 billion for clean energy manufacturing tax credits and $5.8 billion for industrial facilities), while protecting communities with new monitoring and screening near industrial facilities.

Secretary Granholm and White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy announced the roadmap during a roundtable held at DOE on Sept. 3, with a diversity of industry leaders and stakeholders from government and academia.

“America’s industrial sector is critical to our economy and daily lives, yet it currently accounts for an enormous portion of greenhouse gas emissions, and is particularly difficult to decarbonize,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “DOE’s Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap will help put the nation on the path to achieving President Biden’s agenda of a cleaner industrial sector that benefits workers and revitalizes communities, while providing a healthier environment for all Americans.”

“The new Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap and funding opportunity couldn’t come at a better time, building on the historic funding in the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and ensuring the clean energy economy is made in America,” said White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy. “Building a cleaner, more prosperous future requires harnessing American innovation and ingenuity, and investing in our workforce while reducing pollution burdens on fence line communities. That’s what President Biden has been committed to since Day One, and that’s what we’re doing today.”

The industrial sector is among the most difficult to decarbonize. In 2021, the industrial sector accounted for one third of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions — more than the annual emissions of 631 million gasoline-fueled passenger vehicles. DOE’s Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap focuses on five energy-intensive sectors where industrial decarbonization efforts can have the greatest impact. The roadmap outlines a multidimensional plan with four pathways to reduce emissions across these critical sectors. These key sectors — iron and steel; cement and concrete; food and beverage; chemical manufacturing; and petroleum refining — account for over 50 percent of the energy-related CO2 emissions in the industrial sector. The four pathways include:

• Energy efficiency: The most cost-effective option for near-term reductions of greenhouse gas emission includes smart manufacturing and advanced data analytics to increase energy productivity in manufacturing processes.
• Industrial electrification: Leveraging advancements in low-carbon electricity from both grid and onsite renewable generation sources will be critical to decarbonization efforts. Examples include electrification of process heat using induction or heat pumps.
• Low carbon fuels, feedstocks, and energy sources (LCFFES): LCFFES efforts involve substituting low-and no-carbon fuel and feedstocks, including using green hydrogen, biofuels and bio feedstocks.
• Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS): CCUS decarbonization efforts include permanent geologic storage as well as developing processes to use captured CO2 to manufacture new materials.
• Energy efficiency: The most cost-effective option for near-term reductions of greenhouse gas emission includes smart manufacturing and advanced data analytics to increase energy productivity in manufacturing processes.

The roadmap also provides recommendations for RD&D investment opportunities and near- and long-term actions industry and the government can take to achieve deep decarbonization, including:

• Advance early-stage RD&D: Further applied science necessary for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
• Invest in multiple process strategies: Continue parallel pathways of electrification, efficiency, low carbon fuels, CCUS and alternative approaches.
• Scale through demonstrations: Support demonstration testbeds to accelerate and de-risk deployment.
• Address process heating: Most industrial emissions come from fuel combustion for heat.
• Integrate solutions: Focus on systems impact of carbon reduction technologies on the supply chain.
• Conduct modeling/systems analyses: Expand the use of lifecycles and techno-economic analyses.

The “Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization FOA” incorporates the topics and recommendations identified in the roadmap, applying the four industrial decarbonization pathways to energy-intensive industries where decarbonization technologies could have the greatest impact.

Read the text of the roadmap here.