Alliance for Industry Decarbonization aims to accelerate achieving net-zero goals
About
With more than 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 40% of global energy consumption, the industrial sector is the second largest emitter after power generation. At the same time, the demand for energy and industrial products is forecasted to increase tremendously. Without increased emission reduction efforts within the industrial sector, the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 Celsius stays unreachable.
The Alliance for Industry Decarbonization aims to decarbonize industrial value chains and accelerate net-zero ambitions in accordance with the Paris Agreement. The Alliance’s founders and partners, consisting of private and public organizations and stakeholders operating in energy-intensive sectors, commit to collaborate toward the common vision of a green future. The Alliance members believe in the power of partnerships based on honest dialogue and concrete actions.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) coordinates and facilitates the activities of the Alliance based on its vast experience in hosting multi-stakeholder platforms. Siemens Energy co-chairs the Alliance leadership alongside Tata Steel and Knowledge Partner Roland Berger supporting the buildup and implementation.
Alliance Objectives
The objective of the Alliance for Industry Decarbonization is to facilitate dialogue on industry level and increase cooperation to help companies to develop solid decarbonization strategies and implementation plans, aligned with their countries’ net-zero and decarbonization commitments. The Alliance is to serve as a global platform for enhancing dialogue through exchange of insights, experiences and best practices.Focus areas
Through common goals, willingness to change, and strong collaboration, industrial emissions will stop rising. Ultimately, only collective efforts of the industrial sector will accelerate the achievement of a net-zero future.
The Alliance operates under the following focus areas:
Members
Members
Ecosystem knowledge partners
The growing number of members and eco-system knowledge partners highlights that an international, multi-stakeholder platform enabling exchange and collaboration to tackle the decarbonization of the industrial sector was long overdue.
How to join
“Climate action needs industry leaders.”
“We have less than a decade left to secure a fighting chance for a 1.5°C world. Climate action needs industry leaders. This Alliance stands for the growing commitment of global industry to act on decarbonization.”
“There is no alternative to the energy transition.”
“There are no reasons or excuses to wait for action. All technologies needed are available and the recent IPCC report has made it clear that without major changes global warming will increase more than 3.2 °C. There is no alternative to the energy transition – we need to act together for just, ambitious implementation now.”
News
We need to join forces and act now on climate change
The Alliance for Industry Decarbonization welcomes more new members, as Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week returns pledging unity on climate action towards COP28
The Alliance for Industry Decarbonization Outlines Core Focus Topics, and Welcomes New Partners at Maiden COP27 Meeting
13 new partners joined the Alliance, with more set to join in the next weeks, to progress the joint vision, strategy and implementation plan.
IRENA and Industry Leaders Launch the Alliance for Industry Decarbonization
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), co-founding partner Siemens Energy and 13 companies across all industry sectors have launched the global Alliance for Industry Decarbonization. The new Alliance aims to accelerate net-zero ambitions and the decarbonization of industrial value chains in pursuit of the Paris Agreement climate goals.
Events
Strategies & technological solutions for achieving carbon emissions reduction under the -1.5 C° scenario
The Climate Week NYC Event
Given the ongoing pace and scope of the energy transition, anything short of radical and immediate action will diminish – and may possibly eliminate – the chance of staying on the 1.5°C or even 2°C path.
The event will gather the high-level leaders of the international organisations, and industries to share their vision and experiences of strategies & technological solutions for achieving carbon emissions reduction under the -1.5 C° scenario.
The event will foster partnerships based on dialogue and actions that are crucial for industrial stakeholders to best address the challenges and opportunities of a clean energy transition. The meeting aims to foster exchanges and collaboration that can accelerate global climate action.
It will address the industry’s views on importance of coherent, comprehensive, coordinated, and caring policies to ensure a safe transition aimed at having a fully functional, reliable and efficient energy system.
The speakers of this meeting will have an opportunity to share their opinions on policy measures to secure green financing, trigger industry’s decarbonization and promote the clean energy transition through enhanced digitalization, smart decentralization and technology advances (renewables, green hydrogen, bioenergy with CCS, heat optimization) and human capital.
See agenda here.
To attend the event, please register here:
Capacity building workshop on quantifying and reporting greenhouse emissions
Workshop contributing partners
Time is of the essence, and a rapid decline in emissions must begin now to preserve a fighting chance to hold the line at 1.5°C.
The mission of the Alliance for Industry Decarbonization is to foster action for decarbonization of industrial value chains, promote understanding of renewables-based solutions and their adoption by industry with a view to contributing to country-specific net-zero goals.
Currently the AFID has over 50 members and knowledge partners. About half of the AFID members published reports on their companies’ emissions and reduction targets until 2030 on Scope 1 & 2 and less members reported on Scope 3. Only limited number of the members formally commit to deep decarbonisation with their net-zero pledges.
All reporting companies serve as role models for other members of the AFID but also to many large, medium, and small companies around the world.
The objective of this capacity building workshop, organised by the knowledge partners, is to support companies in their efforts on quantifying and reporting greenhouse emissions which shall also help the members in development of their decarbonization strategies and implementation plans.
The workshop is open to public and private firms and stakeholders operating in energy-intensive sectors that have the ambition to decarbonize their activities along their value chains and companies that have knowledge and expertise in the deployment of energy transition technologies.
See agenda here.
To attend the event, please register here:
Session Summary: Accelerating net-zero ambitions through clean hydrogen for decarbonization of industrial value chains
The side event on “Accelerating net-zero ambitions through clean hydrogen for decarbonization of industrial value chains” held at CEM14/MI-8 in Goa on 19 July 2023, featured presentations on international collaboration platforms to foster decarbonization of industrial value chains as well as a panel discussion on international standards, conformity assessment, and regulations.
IRENA informed about progress under Alliance for Industry Decarbonization that aims to facilitate dialogue on industry level and increase cooperation to help companies to develop solid decarbonization strategies and implementation plans, aligned with their countries’ net-zero and decarbonization commitments. The Alliance is to serve as a global platform for enhancing dialogue through exchange of insights, experiences and best practices.
UNIDO presented Global Programme For Hydrogen In Industry which powers net zero industrialization and economic development in the Global South and contributes to accelerate local green hydrogen production & application, global trade and decarbonization.
The Net-Zero Industries Mission (NZIM) presneted ongoing collaboration across countries, government, and industry to drive and accelerate the adoption of decarbonisation technologies by the hard to abate, energy intensive industries. The Mission’s goal is to catalyse the development and demonstration of cost competitive solutions for the efficient decarbonisation of hard to abate energy intensive industries worldwide by 2030.
Australia informed about its policy landscape and the Clean Hydrogen Mission where the country is taking a lead role on the Storage and Distribution Working Group. Australia presented a global interactive map of collected case-studies with best practice in innovation, development, and demonstration of hydrogen storage and distribution.
Following the presentations on international collaboration platforms, the speakers from IPHE, IEC, IRENA, Hydrogen Council and Tata Steel continued panel discussion on standards and conformity assessments as interdependent determinants of the development of green hydrogen and thus industry decarbonization. They noted about increased international confidence in green hydrogen and lowered costs. Panellists urged that these determinants are accelerated, and emphasised that standards require greater awareness, the inclusion of developing countries, and focus on the role of guiding governments to create enabling environments. Regulations and certificates were also underscored as essential, especially for facilitating the trade of green hydrogen.
Innovation was another key topic during the event, and the importance of standards for innovation, as well as renewable energy, was noted. It was highlighted that innovation will be essential for supporting the growing hydrogen workforce; additionally, anticipated innovations were shared, including the injection of hydrogen into blast furnace. Throughout the presentations and panel discussion, the value of international collaboration was stressed, especially through knowledge sharing.
It has been concluded that standards, conformity assessment, and regulations – also known as Quality Infrastructure (QI) – play a fundamental role for safe hydrogen production, trade and use. The fundamental rules, standards and certifications have been defined to enable the safety of infrastructure and its installation, storage, use, repair/maintenance and transport of hydrogen, including GH2. All countries with hydrogen initiatives are encouraged to participate in international standards setting and use existing infrastructure elements such as International ISO and IEC Standards, as well as international certifications such as IECEx. They help industry to develop the quality and safety infrastructure needed once GH2 projects become operational, largely avoiding the need for investments in technical conformity assessment infrastructure.
The Alliance for Industry Decarbonization powers Global Panel Discussion at World Utilities Congress
The Alliance for Industry Decarbonization was represented at the World Utilities Congress hosted by Alliance member TAQA. The Congress, which ran from 8-10th May 2023, brought together energy leaders, policymakers, innovators, and industry professionals from around the globe to share perspectives on the trends, opportunities, and challenges of the industry in pursuit of a secure and sustainable utilities future.
The Alliance powered the Global Panel Discussion on Exploring the role of utilities in decarbonising industrial demand. Amidst the urgent need to decarbonize industry, the panel discussion considered how cooperation between utilities and industry can enable the utilities industry to assume its critical role in this regard. There was a focus on how green hydrogen and carbon capture and storage can be harnessed, the use of demand response programs, and how energy-efficient technologies and practices can be developed and implemented.
The Deputy Director-General of IRENA, Gauri Singh, emphasised that: “Targets must be implementable, achievable and tangible.” Among other key messages was the consensus that collaboration throughout and beyond industry must be optimised to navigate the complexities of industrial decarbonization, to produce tangible impacts and to account for the interests and challenges of stakeholders. The value of best practices and lessons learnt from experiences with technologies in informing the way forward was also emphasised. Another key message that emerged was the importance of creating a conducive and enabling environment for the utilities sector to adequately contribute to decarbonizing industrial demand, with an emphasis on policy frameworks and effective innovation.
The Alliance for Industry Decarbonization at the Hannover Messe
The Alliance for Industry Decarbonization powered a session at the Hannover Messe which took place from 17th-21st April 2023. The world’s leading industrial fair brought together key stakeholders from within the sector and beyond to convene under the theme of “Industrial Transformation” to which decarbonization is a key issue.
The session Decarbonizing industries – Tackling the tough stuff was hosted by co-founding partner Siemens Energy and began with technology pitches from start-ups focused on scaling technologies to reduce Europe’s natural gas consumption under the Energy Resilience Leadership Group initiative. Following this, a high-level panel discussion ensued whereby experts discussed industry decarbonization with a focus on technologies, the role of partnerships and what is required by industries through topics including investment, measuring and reporting, and innovation.
Panelists emphasised that although it is relative by industry and context, the four key solutions for decarbonizing industry are electrification, energy efficiency, hydrogen and carbon capture, usage and storage. The key message of the panel was the importance of cross-sectoral partnerships in accelerating efforts, especially in confronting challenges such as the scarcity or lack of availability of certain technologies and the need to establish green markets with demand to match supply. The panel also brought forward key considerations including the potential need to source energy internationally through global value chains to adequately satisfy the high demand required to meet decarbonization targets.
