Policy and governance for industrial decarbonisation
Industrial decarbonisation stands as a formidable challenge of our era. It’s a key step towards reaching the UK’s net-zero emissions targets. A new frontiers report explores the setting of policy – as well as politics of those seeking to shape policy and governance in industrial decarbonisation.
Key takeaways for industry
- Engage proactively and transparently with government and regulators to take an active role in shaping the policy and regulatory process
- Enhance public and community engagement by fostering dialogue about project impacts, benefits and challenges
- Invest in local workforce development through training and upskilling ensuring decarbonisation efforts create long-term opportunities
- Strengthen collaboration within and beyond clusters by building partnerships with universities, policymakers and businesses
Industrial decarbonisation: a policy challenge
Industrial production is responsible for approximately 20% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Until recently, cutting emissions from heavy industry received relatively little attention compared with other sectors such as electricity generation and transport.
This is in part because it was seen as a ‘hard-to-abate’ sector due to the technical and policy challenges involved. However, this situation changed with the UNFCCC Paris Agreement in 2015 and the publication of the 1.5°C report by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change. These events helped to drive an increase in climate policy ambition, with the adoption of net zero targets in many countries.
The Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) – one of the Bennett Institute’s research partners – has integrated findings from seven of its research projects in a new policy and governance frontiers report. Recommendations for policy makers include:
- Provide long-term regulatory and financial certainty to avoid uncertainty in carbon pricing or business models which risks deterring investment and undermining the UK’s competitiveness
- Diversify technological approaches beyond CCUS and hydrogen to enhance resilience and avoid over-reliance on any single solution.
- Strengthen industrial decarbonisation policies at the regional level by ensuring that non-clustered industries and smaller enterprises also benefit from support mechanisms.
- Ensure that government and industry collaboration is seen to be serving broader public and environmental goals, rather than private sector interests alone.
- Encourage cross-border collaboration and knowledge sharing by learning from international best practices, particularly in regions that have successfully implemented industrial decarbonisation policies.
Moving forward
Developing business models that support timely delivery of decarbonisation projects is essential, as without these, delays could compromise the broader net zero timeline and result in certain technologies, or approaches being prioritised according to progress in business model development rather than through a coordinated strategic approach. Policy should expand beyond CCS and hydrogen to address other decarbonisation methods, such as electrification of industrial processes.
Read the full findings
This article is a summary of IDRIC’s Industrial Decarbonisation
Frontiers Report, which was published in April 2025 and authored by:
Benjamin K. Sovacool (lead author), Diarmaid Clery, Clair Gough,
Caspar Donnison, Christine Douglas, Marfuga Iskandarova, Matthew Lockwood, Imogen Rattle, Peter Taylor, Damon Teagle, Seyedvahid Vakili (contributing authors).
Funding
This work was supported by the UK Industrial Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC), through awards EP/V027050/1 under the UKRI ISCF Industrial Challenge/Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge (IDC) and also EPSRC award EP/Z53125X/1.
