Four industrial clusters in the Netherlands, Belgium and the US announced they are working together with the World Economic Forum to reduce their carbon emissions faster through the “Transitioning Industrial Clusters towards Net Zero” initiative.
The World Economic Forum is collaborating with Accenture and the Electric Power Research Institute on this initiative. Launched at COP26 November 2021, the initiative aims to accelerate the decarbonization of hard-to-abate industrial sectors, while maximizing job creation and economic competitiveness.
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The approach focuses on building cross-industry and cross-cluster partnerships to better implement low-carbon technologies and on accessing public funding frameworks and blended-finance options for clusters’ decarbonization projects.
Under this initiative, the World Economic Forum, working closely with Accenture and EPRI as knowledge partners, connects private and public stakeholders to assess how to meet individual and collective decarbonization goals, fosters new enabling policies and provides guidance and support for local community engagement.
Since industrial assets are located in close proximity to each other, sharing of infrastructure, financial and operational risks, and natural and human resources becomes possible. This also provides opportunities to deploy and scale new green technologies, such as hydrogen and the capture, utilization, and storage of carbon for industrial applications, enabling a systemic approach to emissions reduction.
The clusters joining the initiative are:
- Brightlands Circular Space, together with Brightlands Chemelot Campus, Chemelot and the Chemelot Circular Hub in Geleen, Netherlands It will help accelerate the energy transition and circular economy.
- H2Houston Hub, formed through the Center for Houston’s Future and encompassing more than 100 organizations and companies. It will leverage the Houston area’s position as the U.S.’s largest hydrogen producer and consumer, and use innovation and scale to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen and emissions.
- Ohio Clean Hydrogen Hub Alliance, with approximately 100 corporate, governmental and community organization members, will lead the region’s campaign to establish a clean hydrogen hub in the state of Ohio and the Ohio River Valley.
- Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Europe’s second-largest port. It will drive the circular economy and energy transition.
These four large industrial emissions centers, involving oil and gas extraction and processing, shipping, heavy-duty transportation, chemicals and other sectors, currently account for CO2 emissions of 296 million metric tonnes per year.
Sharing infrastructure, maximizing synergies and expanding use of circularity principles across industries will be critical in reducing emissions, while maintaining industrial competitiveness and creating opportunities for employment in these industrial heartlands
said Melissa Stark, a managing director and Global Lead for Renewables and Energy Transition Services, Accenture.
The four new clusters join four others in the UK (Zero Carbon Humber and Hynet North West), Australia (Kwinana Industries Council), and Spain (Basque Net-Zero Industrial Supercluster), which were part of the initial launch of the initiative. Based on metrics provided by each cluster, all eight clusters could potentially save more than 334 million tonnes of CO2. They could also create and protect 1.1 million jobs and contribute $182 billion to regional GDP.
With our focus on becoming the premier circular ecosystem in Europe, it is of upmost importance that we foster competitive collaboration between the companies in our cluster as well as with other global clusters
added Lia Voermans, Director, Brightlands Circular Space.
The new clusters are already actively advancing their decarbonization journey. For instance, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges is starting to convert hydrogen into sustainable raw materials and fuel for the port’s chemical sector, whereas the Ohio Clean Hydrogen Hub Alliance has developed hydrogen fuel cell buses which tour around the U.S., educating transit authorities on the potential and viability of clean transportation.
However, to achieve net-zero emissions, these efforts must be scaled up. Often, financial mechanisms, rather than technology, are the main roadblock, and policy frameworks to support valuable future technologies are lacking. As value chains are transformed, the creation of new partnerships will be key.
In addition to the eight clusters currently involved in the initiative, more than a dozen in the U.S., Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region are also in the process of joining. The aim is to build a community of 100 global industrial clusters to accelerate industrial decarbonization.