The report Mission Possible: Reaching net-zero emissions from harder-to-abate sectors by mid-century describes the technical and economic feasibility of hard-to-abate sectors to reach net-zero carbon emissions, the way to manage the transition to net-zero carbon emissions in heavy industry and heavy-duty transport and the measures policymakers, investors, businesses and consumers should follow to accelerate the change.
The report outlines the measures to reach the objectives of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2°C and keep it as close as possible to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. It suggests that there are different routes -including both demand management solutions and supply-side decarbonization technologies - which together could drive total decarbonization of heavy industries such as cement, plastics, and steel and heavy road transport. The three main routes to decarbonization suggested in this report include:
- Reducing demand for carbon-intensive products and services.
- Improving energy efficiency
- Deploying decarbonization technologies across all sectors.
The report concludes that the most challenging sectors to decarbonize are plastics, due to end-of-life emissions, cement, due to process emissions, and shipping because of the high cost of decarbonization and the fragmented structure of the industry.