Accelerating industrial decarbonisation
Industrial decarbonisation is essential to deliver climate commitments, and to reap the economic and employment benefits from the transition to net zero. While industry is crucial to society, contributing around 27% to global GDP, it also accounts for approximately 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, many industrial sectors, such as iron, steel, cement, aluminium and chemicals are hard to abate.
The Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) was established in 2021 as part of the UK Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge, supporting the development of four low-carbon industrial clusters by 2030 and the world’s first net zero industrial cluster by 2040.
A cluster or ‘place-based’ approach to industrial decarbonisation capitalises on the fact that industries co-locate large-scale infrastructure and job opportunities. This creates local and regional opportunities for cost-effective solutions to decarbonise, while remaining competitive on a global scale.
Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer, Director of IDRIC and Deputy Principal (Global Sustainability), and Director of the Research Centre Carbon Solutions (RCCS) at Heriot Watt, University, will present “Clustering decarbonisation solutions to accelerate sustainable energy transitions”, at the 2024 HiTeMP-4 Forum, which is being held from Oct 21-23, at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide.
“IDRIC has quickly become an essential catalyst bringing together critical stakeholders across academia, industry and policy in order to deliver impactful outcomes designed to support the delivery of net zero clusters in the UK at scale and pace,” Prof Maroto-Valer says.
“This has led to a multi-disciplinary research and innovation programme, addressing key cross-cutting challenges through a whole systems approach to accelerate the development and deployment of low carbon solutions, including carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), hydrogen, fuel switching, and negative emissions technologies”, she says
Prof Maroto-Valer will discuss how IDRIC is developing engineering solutions for net zero, while integrating economic, policy and future workforce skills and requirements to ensure these solutions are implemented at the scale and pace needed to meet net zero targets.
The HiTeMP-4 Forum is presented by the Centre for Energy Technology and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Resources at the University of Adelaide, the HILT CRC and Mission Innovation’s Net Zero Industries Mission. Register today to secure a place at this important event.