(Credit: H2Houston Hub)Four large industrial emissions centers or “clusters,” involving oil and gas extraction and processing, shipping, heavy-duty transportation, and chemicals, are working together with the World Economic Forum to reduce their carbon emissions faster through the “Transitioning Industrial Clusters towards Net Zero” initiative. The World Economic Forum is collaborating with Accenture and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for this.
Industrial clusters are geographic regions where industrial companies are concentrated, making them an attractive target for impactful emissions reduction strategies. Since industrial assets are located in close proximity to each other, sharing of infrastructure (such as CO2 and hydrogen pipelines or renewable energy assets), financial and operational risks, and natural and human resources becomes possible. This also provides opportunities to deploy and scale new green technologies, such as hydrogen and the capture, utilization, and storage of carbon for industrial applications, enabling a systemic approach to emissions reduction.
The clusters joining the initiative are H2Houston Hub, Ohio Clean Hydrogen Hub Alliance, Port of Antwerp-Bruges, and Brightlands Circular Space. These four large industrial emissions centers, involving oil and gas extraction and processing, shipping, heavy-duty transportation, chemicals and other sectors, currently account for CO2 emissions of 296 million metric tons per year.
The initiative aims to accelerate the decarbonization of hard-to-abate industrial sectors. The approach focuses on building cross-industry and cross-cluster partnerships to better implement low-carbon technologies and on accessing public funding frameworks and blended-finance options for clusters’ decarbonization projects. Under this initiative, the World Economic Forum, working closely with Accenture and EPRI as knowledge partners, connects private and public stakeholders to assess how to meet individual and collective decarbonization goals, fosters new enabling policies and provides guidance and support for local community engagement.
The new clusters are already actively advancing their decarbonization journey. For instance, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges is starting to convert hydrogen into sustainable raw materials and fuel for the port’s chemical sector, whereas the Ohio Clean Hydrogen Hub Alliance has developed hydrogen fuel cell buses which tour around the US, educating transit authorities on the potential and viability of clean transportation.
