Countries that make 70% of the global economy have committed to net-zero emission targets by 2050.
In this sense, industrial clusters will play a pivotal role in helping these countries meet their climate goals.
Industrial clusters are geographic areas including co-located companies that represent a single industry or multiple related industries.
According to the World Economic Forum, the framework developed for helping reduce emissions in industrial clusters has four solutions:
- Systemic efficiency and circularity
- Direct electrification and renewable heat
- Hydrogen
- Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS)
Adopting these solutions could result in a decline of up to 40% of European industrial emissions by 2030 (up to 12% of overall European emissions). The key is approaching this through multi-stakeholder collaboration and in an integrated manner.
Here are some examples.
Recovering the cooling load from a liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal can be used to support a freezer warehouse.
Suzhou Industrial Park in China has implemented an all-in-one microgrid solution that provides power, cooling, and heating on demand.
The Spanish electricity company Iberdrola will build one of the largest green hydrogen plants, where solar electricity will power an electrolyzer.
The UK plans to capture up to 10 million tons of CO2 by 2030 via projects such as those at the Humber industrial cluster.
The captured CO2 will be transported via a pipeline and shored hundred the seabed of the North Sea.
