Can Industry Eliminate Its Carbon Pollution?

Industry accounts for one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, a share that will only increase in the coming years. 

Other high-emission sectors, like electric power and transportation, are cutting emissions  through renewables and electrification. But the pathways to reducing emissions from manufacturing materials such as iron, steel, chemicals, cement, and concrete are still unclear. 

A new book by Jeffrey Rissman, titled Zero-Carbon Industry: Transformative Technologies and Policies to Achieve Sustainable Prosperity., dives into the nuances of industrial decarbonization and lays out a roadmap for eliminating greenhouse gas emissions between 2050 and 2070. 

So, what are some of the pathways for reducing manufacturing emissions? And how can policy support decarbonization? 

This week host Bill Loveless talks with Jeffrey about his book and its look at the workings of heavy industrial polluters and the ways to affordably decarbonize manufacturing. 

Jeffrey is the senior director of the industry program at Energy Innovation, a nonpartisan energy and climate policy firm, where he leads the company’s work on technologies and policies to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from the industry sector. 

Zero-Carbon Industry is part of the Center on Global Energy Policy’s book series, and is published by Columbia University Press.