Taxonomy for Industrial Cluster Decarbonization: An Analysis for the Italian Hard-to-Abate Industry

Abstract

The share of industry in final global energy consumption was more than 30% in 2020, of which, the hard-to-abate sectors accounted for almost 60% of total final consumption in industry. Similarly, in Europe, industry accounts for around 25% of final energy consumption. In order to reduce the impact of industry in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, Europe has set many policies that support and regulate the sector, including pricing carbon emissions in a cap-and-trade scheme called the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). According to the EU ETS, in 2021 the verified emissions of all stationary installations were around 1.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. In 2021, the total allocated allowances amounted to around 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, half of which were freely allocated. After reviewing the existing modeling approaches for industrial clusters and the available datasets, and assessing the energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions at plant level using a geographical information system approach (GIS), a taxonomy for industrial cluster decarbonization was introduced. This taxonomy shows that describing industry as sets of clustered installations rather than based on the conventional sectoral economic classification provides more insights into energy transition. First, the cluster description provides a more accurate techno-economic assessment based on a finer characterization of economies of scale compared to traditional energy systems models. Second, the industrial clustering approach may more realistically show the feasibility, in addition to the costs and benefits from coupling industry with transport (e.g., industrial fleets and logistics) or buildings (e.g., city scale), due to a more detailed representation of the energy sources and sinks.

Review and Perspectives of Key Decarbonization Drivers to 2030

“…As expected, the industrial sector achieves a consumption reduction of approximately 1.96 Mtoe, given that this sector has already reduced its emissions to a large extent, particularly since the implementation of market-based mechanisms aimed at supporting EE [21]. That said, the industrial sector should be analyzed differently from the others; it is, in fact, a sector in which CCS technologies complement other solutions, particularly in the so-called hard-to-abate sectors [22,23]. Another major contribution to efficiency comes from the transportation sector [24]; thus, our hypothesis is based on the gradual increase in green fuels, such as biogas, biomethane, biodiesel, bioLPG, rDME, etc., as well as electrification consistent with the limited growth in electricity consumption.…”

Technical and Economic Aspects of Environmentally Sustainable Investment in Terms of the EU Taxonomy

“…The use of activated carbon in landfill gas treatment facilities and its subsequent regeneration is part of a closed-cycle economy, which aims to maintain the value of products, materials and other resources in the economy for as long as possible. Such a state results in the minimisation of waste generation and the release of hazardous substances at all stages of their life cycle by applying the waste hierarchy [112,113].…”

Reconfiguring European industry for net-zero: a qualitative review of hydrogen and carbon capture utilization and storage benefits and implementation challenges

“…Such as taxonomy can, moreover, help design effective industrial decarbonization options. 31 The United Kingdom (UK) government has taken such an approach, considering clusters, rather than single industries, in technical and policy-making plans.…”