A major new study by an interdisciplinary team of researchers finds that it is possible—and critical—to bring industrial greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2070.
A major new study by an interdisciplinary team of researchers finds that it is possible—and critical—to bring industrial greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2070. Published Sunday in Applied Energy, the study assesses the range of technologies and policies interventions available to enable global industry decarbonization. This paper was the result of a collaboration among almost two dozen leading technical experts, led by Jeffrey Rissman of Energy Innovation and coauthored by Resources for the Future (RFF) Senior Fellow Dallas Burtraw.
The industrial sector was responsible for 33 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2014 (including process emissions and indirect emissions from purchased electricity). Therefore, cutting emissions from this sector is critical to meeting international climate goals, such as those set by the Paris Agreement.
“There are promising technical approaches to dramatically reduce industrial emissions, such as improved energy and material efficiency, as well as increased use of electricity and hydrogen,” says Rissman. “Smart, ambitious policy will be necessary to accelerate deployment of these technologies and achieve zero industrial emissions by 2070.”
The paper finds that governments can accelerate research and development (R&D) in sustainable manufacturing and incentivize new technology deployment and market scale-up through policy mechanisms such as R&D support, emissions standards, carbon pricing, and government procurement of low-carbon materials and industrial products.
Read more at Resources for the Future (RFF)
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