Industrial
DGA’s work focuses on the three highest emitting sectors: electricity, industrial, and transportation, which collectively account for 75% of greenhouse gas emissions and 96% of nitrous oxide emissions in the United States. By working across these sectors, we can improve air quality, protect public health, and mitigate climate impacts such as the extreme weather and wildfires that threaten our economy and national security.
DGA supports major global companies and NGOs committed to reducing emissions in the hard-to-abate industrial sector.
Industrial manufacturing produces the food we eat and the goods we use—from chemicals, steel, and cement to paper, textiles, and building materials. This sector is responsible for almost a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. Unlike the power sector, though, industrial emissions are continuing to rise. The primary challenge is the sector’s deep reliance on fossil fuels to create the immense thermal energy (heat) needed for manufacturing processes like drying, sterilizing, and melting.
Replacing fossil gas with renewable solutions is complex because of the sectors’ operational diversity: different processes require different temperatures, heat delivery mediums, and pressure, from low-temperature hot water for cooking food to extreme high-temperature steam for making steel and cement. While some solutions like electric heat pumps, thermal batteries, and solar thermal can meet many low-temperature heat needs today, running each factory process with renewable heat requires bespoke solutions and innovative efficiencies.
Solutions to Industrial Decarbonization
Electrify low- and medium-temperature processes.
Electrification is possible when technologies like industrial heat pumps and thermal batteries are paired with renewable power from the grid.
Deploy clean fuels.
Clean hydrogen, renewable natural gas, and sustainable biomass can replace fossil fuels for critical industrial processes.
Collaborate across industrial sectors.
When companies come together, they can overcome deployment challenges and share lessons learned.
Renewable Thermal Collaborative
DGA Work Highlight
DGA co-convenes the Renewable Thermal Collaborative—a global, buyer-led coalition committed to decarbonizing thermal energy with renewable resources. The RTC’s work is focused on the intersecting issues of technology, market development, and policy. Its members represent more than $6 trillion in market capitalization and include major, household name brands across the automotive, food & beverage, technology, and other sectors, as well as a network of “solutions providers” that includes renewable thermal technology developers, project financiers, consultants, utilities, and others. DGA supports the RTC by:
- Advocating for supportive policy in the U.S. and Europe
- Helping companies understand and evaluate renewable thermal solutions
- Convening webinars, collaborative workshops, and an annual conference that draws more than 300 people.
