Spurring low-carbon electrosynthesis through energy and innovation policy

Tobias S Schmidt

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102045

Spurring low-carbon electrosynthesis through energy and innovation policy

iScience. 2021 Jan 9;24(2):102045. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102045. eCollection 2021 Feb 19.

Author

Tobias S Schmidt^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Energy Politics Group - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich, Haldeneggsteig 4, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
² Institute of Science, Technology and Policy, ETH Zurich, Universitaetsstrasse 41, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.

Abstract

Reaching the climate targets set in the Paris Agreement on climate change requires decarbonizing all parts of the global economy. The electrification of industry processes-and more specifically, electrosynthesis (ES)-is an important decarbonization mechanism. To tap into this mechanism's potential and accelerate the decarbonization of these processes, I argue that public policy needs to perform two tasks. First, energy policy needs to enable the provision of CO₂ emissions-free baseload electricity. Second, innovation policy needs to accelerate cost reductions for ES. Here, I discuss why this is the case, what the challenges are, how policy makers can address them, and how political ambition can be increased.

Keywords: Electrochemical Energy Conversion; Electrochemistry; Energy Policy; Industrial Chemistry.

Publication types

Review