Technological Pathways for Decarbonizing Petroleum Refining

The analysis identifies that U.S. petroleum refineries, which contribute approximately 3% of all U.S. emissions, can deeply decarbonize through fuel switching to clean hydrogen, electrification, and carbon capture, utilization and storage. In the long term, the paper argues that refineries can shift to renewable feedstocks to produce low-carbon fuels for aviation, shipping, and trucking, potentially reducing fuel carbon intensities by up to 80%.

• Petroleum refining is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., accounting for roughly 13% of industrial emissions and 3% of total national emissions. Decarbonizing this sector has the potential to reduce nearly 3 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and improve local air quality by targeting on-site heat generation and refining processes.
• Refineries can meet annual heat demands and cut emissions by switching from fossil fuels to low- and zero-carbon hydrogen fuel or by electrifying low-to-medium-grade heating. Process emissions can be mitigated using carbon capture and storage technology.
• In the long term, refineries could transition from processing crude oil to using renewable feedstocks for synthetic fuels, specifically for the aviation and trucking sectors, which could lower fuel carbon intensities by as much as 80%.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Technological Pathways for Decarbonizing Petroleum Refining. https://www.wri.org/research/technological-pathways-decarbonizing-petroleum-refining

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Technological Pathways for Decarbonizing Petroleum Refining. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/technological-pathways-decarbonizing-petroleum-refining.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Technological Pathways for Decarbonizing Petroleum Refining |url=https://www.wri.org/research/technological-pathways-decarbonizing-petroleum-refining |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendtechnological, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Technological Pathways for Decarbonizing Petroleum Refining}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/technological-pathways-decarbonizing-petroleum-refining}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }