Sustainable Businesses &
Industrial Decarbonization
Building the low-carbon industrial sector of the future
In order to address climate change, we are at a point where we must rapidly decarbonize some of our most challenging industries. Steps companies and countries take to decarbonize include:
Reducing energy consumption and usage through energy efficiency and smart grid improvements.
Using clean energy instead of fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal)
Replacing fossil fuel transportation with electric vehicles.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) “Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap” identifies key pathways to reduce industrial emissions through innovation in American manufacturing. The roadmap presents an agenda for government, industry, and other stakeholder to work together to accelerate emissions reductions and position the U.S. industrial sector as a global leader in innovation.
Corporate Sustainability
“Corporate sustainability” is an approach aiming to create long-term stakeholder value through the implementation of a business strategy that focuses on the ethical, social, environmental, cultural, and economic dimensions of doing business.
Public Benefit Corporations: Also known as “B Corporations", these are a business certification that balances purpose and profit. They are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. This is a community of leaders, driving a global movement of people using business as a force for good. The evolution of a KCC “priority” bill, originally introduced in 2014, and re-introduced over the next several sessions, was legislation to establish public benefit corporations. The Kentucky Legislature finally passed House Bill 35: “An Act Relating to Public Benefit Corporations” in 2017.
Industrial Decarbonization
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, Industry represents 30% of U.S. primary energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, or 1360 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2020). The Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap focuses on five of the highest CO2-emitting industries where industrial decarbonization technologies can have the greatest impact across the nation: petroleum refining, chemicals, iron and steel, cement, and food and beverage. These industries represent approximately 51% of energy-related CO2 emissions in the U.S. industrial sector and 15% of U.S. economywide total CO2 emissions.
Low-Carbon Steel
For every ton of crude steel, close to two tons of CO2 is created. What’s more, the global appetite for steel is on the rise. Strategies to reduce these emissions could include:
Recycled steel. Using recycled steel scrap, rather than virgin-based production, reduces CO2 emissions by 70%.
Carbon capture and storage (CCUS). Capturing emissions from industry is being explored to address climate change, however these technologies are still under development.
Green hydrogen. Using green hydrogen to replace coal in blast furnaces could decarbonize steel completely.
Efficiency. Improving the efficiency of the blast furnace process or plugging in less carbon-intensive fuels would help reduce steel emissions.
Electrification. Electric arc furnaces have been used for scrap steel, as they weren’t able to reach temperatures needed to process raw iron ore. However, breakthroughs in electrolysis of iron ore are changing that.
The Sustainable Aluminum Network
KCC collaborates with many national partner initiatives as well as local. Over the past two years we have been participating as a partner group within the Sustainable Aluminum Network, which is focused on building a zero-carbon domestic aluminum supply chain by 2030, and creating good community jobs in the process.
Globally, primary aluminum demand is forecasted to increase by 40% by 2050, according to the International Aluminum Institute. The vast majority of emissions from primary aluminum’s emissions come from electricity use.
Zero-carbon aluminum will be essential to electric vehicles, solar panels, transmission lines, and countless other tools of the clean energy economy. It’s also critical for national security that we have control over our supply chains.
In 2024, it was announced that Kentucky was the preferred location for the first “green” aluminum smelter in the United States. As part of our work as a member of the Sustainable Aluminum Network, Kentucky Conservation Committee is working with state government and clean energy stakeholders to see if Kentucky can be the final home for this project.
