Inclusive Industrial Decarbonisation Policies to Effectively Integrate Energy, Climate, and Development Goals in Emerging and Developing Economies

Industrial decarbonisation is essential for the global energy transition, as the sector accounts for 37% of total final energy use and one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. While advanced economies have decoupled growth from emissions, emerging economies are seeing surges due to the relocation of heavy industries. The paper highlights that for emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), the transition is a business opportunity to leapfrog to sustainable technologies, avoid stranded assets, and enhance competitiveness against mechanisms like the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). However, significant bottlenecks exist, including high capital costs and limited access to critical technologies like hydrogen-based steelmaking and carbon capture. The authors propose a global partnership framework based on four pillars: technology transfer, finance mobilisation, policy alignment, and capacity building, suggesting the Climate Club as a potential governance platform.

• Industrial greenhouse gas emissions have increased threefold since 1990, with heavy industry emissions rising by nearly 70% between 1990 and 2020. While advanced economies have stabilised or reduced emissions, they have surged in emerging economies as heavy industries relocated.
• Emerging economies are currently the primary drivers of industrial emissions growth, with China reporting 1.23 GtCO2e in 2021, India 178.61 MtCO2e, and Brazil 37.35 MtCO2e.
• Developing economies face a risk of increasing their share of global industrial emissions from 5-10% today to 25-30% in the next 30-40 years if they continue to rely on fossil-fuel-intensive pathways.
• Technological bottlenecks hinder decarbonisation in 'hard-to-abate' sectors like cement and steel. Critical technologies requiring scale-up include hydrogen (as fuel and feedstock), carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), and high-efficiency industrial motors and boilers.
• There is a significant financing gap for clean energy in developing economies, with less than 20% of clean energy investment reaching these regions according to the IEA (2021).
• Green industrialisation offers an opportunity for Africa to move beyond commodity dependence. The continent holds approximately 30% of the world's known mineral reserves (including cobalt, lithium, and nickel), which can be used to build domestic manufacturing for batteries and renewable energy technologies.
• The proposed Global Partnership Framework for Industrial Decarbonisation is structured around four pillars: technology transfer and co-development, finance mobilisation and de-risking, policy alignment and regulatory cooperation, and capacity building and institutional development.

APA

Ogunbiyi, D., Jose, A., Nagpal, D., Wadhwa, A., & Tereshchenko, P. (2025). Inclusive Industrial Decarbonisation Policies to Effectively Integrate Energy, Climate, and Development Goals in Emerging and Developing Economies. Sustainable Energy for All. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2025-11/SEforALL_Inclusive-Industrial-Decarbonisation-Policies.pdf

Chicago

Ogunbiyi, Damilola, Alvin Jose, Divyam Nagpal, Anant Wadhwa, and Pavel Tereshchenko. Inclusive Industrial Decarbonisation Policies to Effectively Integrate Energy, Climate, and Development Goals in Emerging and Developing Economies. Sustainable Energy for All, 2025. https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2025-11/SEforALL_Inclusive-Industrial-Decarbonisation-Policies.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ogunbiyi |first1=Damilola |last2=Jose |first2=Alvin |last3=Nagpal |first3=Divyam |last4=Wadhwa |first4=Anant |last5=Tereshchenko |first5=Pavel |title=Inclusive Industrial Decarbonisation Policies to Effectively Integrate Energy, Climate, and Development Goals in Emerging and Developing Economies |publisher=Sustainable Energy for All |date=November 2025 |url=https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2025-11/SEforALL_Inclusive-Industrial-Decarbonisation-Policies.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ogunbiyi2025inclusive, author = {Ogunbiyi, Damilola and Jose, Alvin and Nagpal, Divyam and Wadhwa, Anant and Tereshchenko, Pavel}, title = {{Inclusive Industrial Decarbonisation Policies to Effectively Integrate Energy, Climate, and Development Goals in Emerging and Developing Economies}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, year = {2025}, month = nov, url = {https://www.seforall.org/system/files/2025-11/SEforALL_Inclusive-Industrial-Decarbonisation-Policies.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }