Emissions from Australia’s industrial supply chains are considered ‘hard-to-abate’ because addressing them poses more technological and commercial challenges than encountered in other sectors of the economy.
This Phase 1 report, made up of a Highlights report and Technical report, presents findings and highlights from the first phase of the Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative (Australian Industry ETI). It reports the current state of factors influencing decarbonisation in heavy industry, and the future technical and economic opportunities available to move towards net zero emissions.
The Phase 1 Highlights Report, Setting up industry for net zero, presents key themes and findings from the first phase of the initiative – providing a collective overview from partners of enablers and blockers for the net zero transition in hard-to-abate sectors.
Some of the collective themes from the first phase of the initiative include:
- Existing and emerging technology solutions can address almost all emissions in the supply chains.
- Australia must capitalise on emerging low-carbon technologies and energy exports, such as green hydrogen and steel, and rapid deployment of existing technology solutions.
- The transition will require significant investment, leadership and transformation of the energy system.
- Access to affordable renewable electricity and economically competitive production of green hydrogen will be crucial.
- Short-term decarbonisation of existing operations and associated infrastructure will be challenging.
The Phase 1 Technical Report provides robust analysis of the transition to net zero in the five supply chains. Research covered current energy use and emissions, promising emissions reduction technologies and deployment at scale, existing potential for renewable energy, and validating findings with industry partners.
Some early technical insights from the analysis include:
- There are several opportunities to reduce industrial emissions which can be categorised under ‘four pillars of decarbonisation’.
- Many of these solutions are mature and already available for commercial deployment.
- Clustered industrial precincts (regions where hard-to-abate sectors are concentrated) will be useful to develop decarbonised energy systems for industry.
- Australian industry has a key role to play in the complex, simultaneous shifts needed in a transition to net zero.
The Phase 1 Summary Deck provides an overview of key findings from the reports and next steps from Phase 2.
