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Industry’s rising GHG emissions
Industrial activities – for example mining, manufacturing, construction and waste processing but not including the energy sector – account for a fifth of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. Add in the sector’s ‘indirect’ emissions – those released during the production of the energy that the sector uses – and it reaches a third (according to the GHG accounting rules, these emissions are counted in the energy sector, not the industrial sector). Since 2000, emissions from the industrial sector have been rising more quickly than those from transport, buildings, agriculture and power generation.
About two-thirds of industry’s emissions, say 20% of total global emissions, come from producing iron and steel, cement and concret, and chemicals, all ubiquitous products, all hard-to-abate industries. The use of both cement and steel has been growing at 2.5-3% per year in recent times.
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Industrial activities directly and indirectly burn large amounts of fossil fuels but emissions also arise from the chemical reactions involved in the production processes. The latter emissions cannot be reduced simply by switching to renewable energy. The situation is made more difficult by the long life of most industrial plants. Nonetheless, reducing industry’s emissions is critical to controlling climate change. Five changes are critical for this hard-but-not-impossible-to-abate sector:
Reduce demand for cement and steel, which account for 15% of global CO2 emissions. For instance, plan and build compact cities, strict building codes, more efficient design and construction, substitution with alternative sustainable materials, reuse and recycle materials.
Improve industrial energy efficiency. It has been improing but the rate needs to quadruple through, for instance, retrofitting plants with newer technology, building steel plants that operate with decarbonised processes, introducing and monitoring energy performance standards and reducing fossil fuel subsidies.
Electrify industry. Industry uses energy to power machinery and produce heat. Most of the electrification so far has tackled the former but it is the latter that consumes most of the energy. There is considerable scope to increase the electrification of lower levels of heating with existing technologies (carbon pricing and removal of subsidies would encourage their roll out) but processes that require heat above 1,000oC, which produce about a third of industry’s emissions, require much more research.
Commercialise techniques for reducing CO2 emissions from the chemical reactions occurring during production. For instance, green hydrogen-based steelmaking, alternative binders for cement, green ammonia fertilisers, carbon capture and sorage (this may be the only appropriate and viable use of CCS). This is not going to be easy and will need immense investment and government encouragement with sticks and carrots.
Reduce methane emissions from oil and gas operations. For the remainder of its limited lifetime, the oil and gas industry must dramatically reduce the methane released during exploration, production, storage and transportation. Eliminating flaring and leaks is essential and can be done cheaply.
What these data and recommendations emphasise, yet again, is that while we may not have all the answers to controlling GHG emissions, we have enough knowledge, technology and economic know-how right now to make dramatic emissions reductions. It’s not ignorance or impecuniosity that is holding us back, it is vested interests and stupidity.
In Australia, a major part of the problem according to Tony Wood of the Grattan Institute is the absence of a national climate plan. The plan needs ‘the right mix of political commitent, credible policies, coordination with industry, and support from communities’, plus a Net Zero National Cabinet Committee to implement the plan rather than let its targets and policies sit on the website gathering virtual dust.
Steel production in China and India
