Industry decarbonisation

We explore the potential of electrification, circularity, and other technologies to decarbonise energy-intensive sectors like steel, aluminium, and cement.

About industry decarbonisation

Decarbonising heavy industies is key to achieving the EU's net-zero target by 2050

Heavy industries (e.g. chemicals, steel, cement, non-ferrous metals, …) are used in sectors such as construction, transport and agriculture. These industries are amongst the biggest emitters.

Decarbonisation policies and solutions need to be improved and developed to make progress

EU policies, such as the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), should better incentivise decarbonisation.
Electrification, substitutions, and circularity are obvious solutions to decarbonise industry.
In some cases, other technologies such as hydrogen and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) may be useful.

Our work

Conducting research

We analyse the potential of electrification, circularity, and other technologies such as hydrogen and CCUS.

We aim to identify actionable pathways and policy solutions to decarbonise heavy industries.

Evidence-based advocacy

We actively advocate for our data-driven and evidence-based policy recommendations through:

Expert groups and alliances: We are part the Commission’s Climate Change Policy Expert Group (CCEG) on the Free Allocation Regulation, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) expert group for DG CLIMA and DG TAXUD, and DG GROW’s Clean Hydrogen Alliance.
Collaboration: We collaborate with climate organisations around campaigns.
Policy recommendations: We provide direct feedback to institutions through public and private outreach.

Read our analysis and policy recommendations

Towards a minimum recycled steel content in passenger cars: setting an initial target

The EU has around 286 million motor vehicles, and every year, 6.5 million of these are scrapped. If the steel scrap from these end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) is not managed well, valuable resources are lost, harming the environment. With the EU preparing its ELV Regulation, which could set targets for minimum recycled steel content for passenger cars : what should those targets be?

Feedback on the EU Commission’s draft methodology for low-carbon hydrogen

For ‘low carbon’ hydrogen to truly make a positive contribution to Europe’s transition to climate neutrality, the safeguards put in place must be meaningful. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case in this draft delegated act.

Metallurgical flexibility: Enabling the aluminium and steel sectors for demand response

Electrification and flexibility are critical to decarbonising both industrial and electricity systems. But what happens when we combine the two? Industrial flexibility will play an increasingly important role as industry moves towards electrification.

« Older Entries

Developing data tools

We develop data tools to analyse industrial emissions and to assess different technologies.

EU ETS Dashboard

Navigate emissions data of sectors covered by the EU ETS at various granularity levels.

Try the dashboard

Marginal Abatement Cost (MAC) Curve

Assess when switching to renewable hydrogen becomes cost-effective for refining, methanol, and ammonia production.

Try the MAC Curve

Our messages



On steel

Free allocation in the EU ETS should be phased out.
Before this is done, free allocation should be done in equal amounts for a given type of product (long or flat) regardless of feedstock and production route
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) should attribute embedded emissions to steel scrap to prevent circumvention.



On hydrogen

Avoid unnecessary demand for green hydrogen in sectors with better alternatives.
Distribute aid fairly across competing solutions, prioritising low-carbon, resource-efficient alternatives like recycling and organic fertilisers.v
Reform EU criteria for green hydrogen to prevent overreliance on fossil fuels and price volatility.