Leveraging material efficiency as an energy and climate instrument for heavy industries in the EU

Abstract

Material efficiency is indispensable to reaching agreed targets for industry's energy and carbon emissions. Yet, in the EU, the energy-and emissions-saving potentials of this strategy continue to be framed as secondary outcomes of resource-related policies. Understanding why material efficiency has been overlooked as an energy/climate solution is a prerequisite for proposing ways of changing its framing, but existing studies have failed to do so. This paper fills this gap by triangulating interviews, policy documents and three policy theories: namely, historical and rational choice institutionalism, and multiple streams framework. Factors discouraging material efficiency as an energy and climate strategy include: difficulties in reframing the prevailing rationale to pursue it; the inadequacy of monitored indicators; the lack of high-level political buy-in from DG Energy and Clima; the ETS policy lock-in; uncoordinated policy management across Directorates; the lack of a designated industry lobby. Policy solutions are proposed. Before 2030, these are limited to minor amendments, e.g. guidance on embodied energy calculations or industry standards. Post-2030, more radical interventions are possible, such as introducing new fiscal drivers, redesigning the ETS emissions cap or benchmarks for allowances. This evidence suggests that the transition to a low-carbon industry will require Member State-and industry-level action.

What Key Drivers Are Needed to Implement Material Efficiency Strategies? An Analysis of the Electrical and Electronic Industry in Malaysia and Its Implications to Practitioners

“…Energy is an important source for running the machines and processing raw materials. In some empirical studies, material efficiency was found to have a direct proportional relationship with energy consumption and the emission of CO 2 [34,48]. In our study, some E&E companies also confirmed this view whereby if the raw material intake is reduced, the processing time could be reduced; thus, the usage of energy will decrease.…”

“…For example, environmentally friendly products have become a trend, especially in European countries. To fulfill these market needs, manufacturers are required to practice various environmental strategies, including material efficiency [13], green packaging [32,45], consuming less energy [33,46], lightweight product design [25,47], and less CO 2 emissions [33,34,48]. Furthermore, manufacturers need to clearly understand the differences in the product requirements in various regions.…”

“…Another driving force to practice material efficiency is the influence of the government or local authorities. For example, manufacturers from advanced countries could obtain extra incentives and tax reductions from their government by practicing material efficiency [13,20,28,48,49]. Therefore, the tax exemption for the finished goods could possibly help manufacturers to sell their products at a more competitive price.…”

“…Rise of raw material and resource prices Rise of material prices, energy prices, machinery, and technology costs [25,30] Regulation Fulfill the environmental regulations and directives [32][33][34][35] Competitor Competition given by the local and international rivals [20,26,38] Social responsibility Reduce the release of industrial pollutants to the environment [13,19,25,[40][41][42][43] Market requirements Fulfill customer requirements, such as material quality, product performance, product functionality, eco-design [13,25,[32][33][34][46][47][48] Incentive from the government Tax reduction for companies that commit to green manufacturing and eco-products [13,20,28,48,49]…”

Material efficiency strategies to reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with buildings, vehicles, and electronics—a review

“…More recently, Materials Economics estimated EU-level GHG emissions reductions associated with ME policies, but did so using independent models for each industrial sector, thereby lacking important economywide perspectives [12]. As a recent review found that current policies are insufficient to tap the significant mitigation potential of ME [215], improved IAM capabilities for robust, policy-relevant assessment of ME strategies should be a critical priority. Emerging work on a country level may offer indications for how the effect of ME can be modeled [216,217].…”