THE CLIMATE FRIENDLY TRANSITION OF EUROPE’S ENERGY INTENSIVE INDUSTRIES

The briefing argues that deep decarbonisation in Europe's energy-intensive industries is technically possible through process, product, and business-model transformations, though it requires strong public policy and funding. It details specific pathways for the chemical sector (bio-based feedstocks and circularity), steel (HIsarna, hydrogen-based DRI, and scrap-EAF production), and cement (calcium looping CCS and clinker substitution). It specifically recommends strengthening the EU ETS Innovation Fund to support the commercialisation of these capital-intensive technologies by 2030.

• Deep emission reductions of 80% or more are possible across the chemical, steel, and cement industries, although most easily achievable reductions have already been realized.
• The chemical sector can achieve further mitigation by replacing fossil-fuel feedstocks with biomass-based alternatives and increasing plastic recycling, which could save up to 13 Mt of CO2-eq emissions per year by 2025.
• Decarbonisation of the ammonia and fertiliser sector can be achieved through electrochemical production using renewable power, nutrient recovery from bio-waste, and reducing overall fertiliser use through direct nitrogen fixation.
• The steel sector can reduce emissions via the HIsarna process, which can cut CO2 by 20% (or 80% with CCS), the use of hydrogen-based Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) expected by 2030 in Sweden, and a shift toward electric arc furnace (EAF) production using recycled scrap.
• The cement sector's emissions can be reduced by phasing out inefficient wet and semi-wet kilns, using calcium looping CCS to capture over 80% of emissions, and substituting clinker with materials like enhanced landfill mining (ELFM) outputs.
• The EU ETS Innovation Fund, proposed with 400 million emission allowances (potentially worth €10 billion), is identified as a critical tool for bringing low-carbon process technologies to commercialisation by 2030.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2016). THE CLIMATE FRIENDLY TRANSITION OF EUROPE’S ENERGY INTENSIVE INDUSTRIES. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Final-Frontier-Innovation-Report-Web-Version.pdf

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. THE CLIMATE FRIENDLY TRANSITION OF EUROPE’S ENERGY INTENSIVE INDUSTRIES. 2016. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Final-Frontier-Innovation-Report-Web-Version.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=THE CLIMATE FRIENDLY TRANSITION OF EUROPE’S ENERGY INTENSIVE INDUSTRIES |date=May 2016 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Final-Frontier-Innovation-Report-Web-Version.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{carbonmarketwatch2016climate, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{THE CLIMATE FRIENDLY TRANSITION OF EUROPE’S ENERGY INTENSIVE INDUSTRIES}}, institution = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2016}, month = may, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Final-Frontier-Innovation-Report-Web-Version.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }