Decarbonising Industry & Businesses: what’s new towards 2030?

The Industry sector is one of the largest energy consumers in the EU, accounting for about a fourth of the final energy consumption. European industries have made important progress to improve their energy efficiency and switch to low carbon energy sources; however, opportunities for saving energy remain in most enterprises.

In March 2020, the New Industrial Strategy outlined how Europe will become greener, more circular and more digital while remaining competitive on the global stage. Between 2020 and 2023, together with the uptake of relevant technological processes and trends (digitalization, electrification, use of hydrogen), the industry & enterprises sector dealt with important natural, political and societal changes, which required to rethink policies, strategies and approaches.

Taking stock of the mutated scenario, the new (February 2023) Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age included as a pillar of the EU strategy the concept of competitiveness, to build a more supportive environment for the scaling up of the EU's manufacturing capacity for the net-zero technologies. A common factor to any recent policy, strategy and plan regarding the process of decarbonisation, is the prominent role played by Energy Efficiency.

This workshop has two main aims: to update the participants (National energy agencies, policy officers, researchers, and industry stakeholders) on core topics underlying the process of industrial decarbonization, as well as providing insights from an in-depth discussion on how to better support businesses and industry in a challenging scenario.