Decarbonisation is a crucial stake for all companies, given that the industrial sector is responsible for 19% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. In 2021 it was directly responsible for emitting 9.4 Gt of CO2, accounting for a quarter of global emissions. While progress has been made in this sector since the 1990s, the manufacturing industry (part of the industrial sector) alone produced 78.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 just in the UK. Nonetheless, there has been a reduction of over 40% in manufacturing industry emissions compared to 1990 levels, as demonstrated in the chart below. The industrial sector has the potential to significantly reduce GHG emissions and play a vital role in achieving the environmental objectives set by the government. Therefore, it is crucial for these companies to take proactive measures towards decarbonisation.

Although sustainability is often presented as a regulatory obligation, it also represents a significant competitive advantage. In this article, we explore the importance of decarbonisation for industrial companies, both from an environmental and economic perspective and present some key solutions to achieve it, with a focus on the EU and the UK.




