1.5 °C pathways for the Global Industry Classification (GICS) sectors chemicals, aluminium, and steel

To achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, decarbonization targets and benchmarks for specific industry sectors are required. This opens up a whole new research area for energy modelling because although decarbonization pathways have been developed for countries, regions, or communities, few have been developed for industry sectors. In this research, we document the development of energy scenarios for industry sectors classified under the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). A bottom-up energy demand analysis based on market projections for the chemical, aluminium, and steel industries forms the basis for scenario development, with the aim of completely decarbonizing the electricity and process heat supplies for these industries by 2050. We document the individual steps in the energy demand analyses based on industry-specific market projections and energy intensities. In the last step, the carbon budget is calculated. The complete decarbonization of the industries analysed seems possible based on the available technology.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42452-022-05004-0.