Sustainability & Decarbonization

Alex West Joanne Goh Alexander Bourgeois Daisuke Muto Ivan Campos

The sustainability challenge for manufacturing

In 2020 35 billion tonnes of Carbon Dioxide were emitted.

One third was from manufacturing and construction.

16 billion gallons of water are consumed by US factories every day.

US factories emit 1.2 trillion gallons of untreated sewage and industrial waste every year.

Industrial energy consumption estimated to reach 240.2 quadrillion BTUs in 2020.

Only 8.5% of industrial energy consumption was from renewable sources.

3.2 billion tonnes of metal and 4.1 billion tonnes of cement were produced in 2019.

Industrial pollution accounts for 50% of all pollution in the US.

Re-cap of 2019 pledgesThe race to net zero is estimated to cost $21 trillion globally. The following countries have committed to greenhouse gas reduction targets by 2030:

US: 50% below 1990 levels by 2023–27

Germany: 55% below 1990 levels by 2030

EU: 40% below 1990 levels by 2030

China – Peak C02 commission around 2030; 60–65% reduction by 2030 to the 2005 level

The global race to net zero

Expect more partnership and task force setup across industrial value chain to develop sustainable processes

More and more companies have set ambitious carbon emission goals and are in the process of completely converting their production and services and ultimately to achieve circular economy. Moving from linear to circular economy, it requires a restructuring of industrial value chains, an innovative business model, and significant investments in research and development. Therefore, it is expected that partnerships, collaborations and task force will be established along the journey to achieve climate neutrality by the committed timeline.

For example, Germany wants to be climate neutral by 2045, the UAE by 2050. Emirati-German taskforce established in November 2021 for Hydrogen and Synthetic Fuels, which deepen cooperation between the two countries in the green hydrogen sector.

Setting a sustainable target

Just because a company has nearer term targets doesn’t mean that it’s “more sustainable”, and vice versa. The existence of a pledge does not provide any cast-iron indication of an company’s sustainability credentials.

The magnitude of challenges varies across industries, companies and even sites. So even a delayed release or long-term-horizon pledge can be far more meaningful than arbitrarily selected dates, produced solely for the purpose of appeasing stakeholders. And this is especially true when pledges have been scientifically derived with clear and measurable milestones.

81 Commitments in total from top 50

Number of commitments made:

0 Commitments 10
1 Commitments 14
2 Commitments 11
3 Commitments 15

Expect motors & drives suppliers to further emphasize energy savingsCurrently, there are over 800 million industrial electric motors installed worldwide. These consume around 8.6 Trillion KWH of electricity per annum — the equivalent of the annual electricity consumed by China and India. Over the last ~ 20 years legislation has been introduced to support the transition to move from inefficient motors e.g. IE1 (standard efficiency) motors to higher efficiency products.Adoption of these standards has varied significantly across different regions:

Global LV motor installed base by efficiency standards

In 2018 more than three quarters of installed motors were low efficiency IE1 motors. However, higher efficiency motors are growing quickly — The installed base of IE3 and IE4 motor is projected to grow at unit CAGR of 22% from 2020 to 2025.

Variable frequency drives (VFDs) electronics that control the speed and operation of motors also contribute significantly to energy savingsAttachment rate of motors and drives

Industrial Sustainability TodayHow will the manufacturing sector develop and meet its environmental sustainability goals, and what is the role of technology in enabling this? We’ve launched Industrial Sustainability Today, a brand devoted to providing companies with insights that will help accelerate the green transition, across the manufacturing lifecycle.We champion how new approaches to technology, processes and operations are being implemented by market-leaders, whilst providing research-backed insights to help manufacturers deliver on their decarbonization strategy.Access Industrial Sustainability Today to track the latest news, resources and events, to help your company on its transformation.For more information, reach out to IST@informa.com