Event Details - Al-Attiyah Foundation

Overview

Reducing CO2 Emissions from Energy-Intensive Industries.

When 196 countries - Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - adopted the Paris Agreement in December 2015, it represented a major breakthrough. After more than 20 years of negotiations, the world agreed on a blueprint on how to keep global climate change well below 2 degrees Celsius and aiming for 1.5 degrees Celsius. The agreement is seen by many world leaders that gathered in Paris in December 2015, as the last hope for humanity to preserve the foundations for a healthy planet. It was hailed in 2015 as a major milestone in global efforts to tackle climate change and now provides a framework for all sectors, particularly the private sector to contribute to the global effort to combat climate change.

The industrial sector, in general, uses more delivered energy than any other end-use sector, consuming about 54% of the world’s total delivered energy. The industrial sector can be categorized by three distinct industry types: energy-intensive manufacturing, nonenergy-intensive manufacturing, and nonmanufacturing. The following industries are considered to be energy-intensive: food, pulp and paper, basic chemicals, refining, iron and steel, nonferrous metals (primarily aluminium), and non-metallic minerals (primarily cement). Together, they account for about half of all industrial sector delivered energy use. Consequently, the same industries emit large quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2), related to both their energy consumption (combustion emissions) and their production processes (process emissions).

Energy-intensive industries, such as steel and cement manufacturing, are struggling with overcapacity as the economic downturn has driven down global demand. The year 2015, which was coincidentally the year of adoption of the Paris Agreement, saw the lowest price of steel in over a decade. As a result, many companies in some parts of the world, had to shut down plants and these hard times have not abated much. The withdrawal from the Paris Agreement by the current US Administration was a direct consequence of the challenge facing these energy-intensive industrial sectors. The big question is whether the sectors could turn these hard times into an opportunity for a much-needed overhaul of ageing and inefficient technologies, as part of a comprehensive strategy to transform into a low-carbon future.

At the CEO Roundtable, international experts would share insights on recent and ongoing developments on the reduction of emissions from energy-intensive industries, with particular focus on the iron & steel, aluminium and cement sectors. The moderated discussion, would cover, but not limited to, the following aspects:

The nature and scale of the problem/challenge facing these sectors. The competing challenge of the need for more energy, by the growing population, for socio-economic development; and the need to take urgent actions to address climate change.
Technological options for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors of the economy. Mapping out the various pathways for abating emissions from these sectors, including the application of high-temperature processes, electrification through low-carbon energy sources, hydrogen, biomass, carbon capture and storage, etc.
The major barriers and enablers and the use of an effective policy framework to minimize the barriers and enhance the enablers.
Emerging innovative approaches for reducing emissions from energy-intensive processes of production of iron & steel, aluminium, and cement.
Identifying and engaging the entire stock of knowledge available globally to achieve continue contribution of energy-intensive industries to sustainable development but in a low-carbon pathway.
The long-scenarios for emission reductions from energy-intensive industries.