Energy-intensive industries play a crucial role in Europe's industrial value chains; yet they are responsible for 17% of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU (2019). Achieving climate neutrality in the EU requires these industries to shift toward renewable energies and hydrogen to replace fossil resources. At the same time, captured CO2 will replace fossils as feedstock in the production of chemicals and minerals. The presence of competitive climate-neutral plants in the EU by 2050 depend on the successful demonstration of key technologies in the coming years. This session will highlight the substantial contributions of actions within the industry part of the H2020 and Horizon Europe programmes, which fund breakthrough research and innovation on decarbonization technologies and sustainable business practices for energy-intensive industries. European projects demonstrating processes involving energy efficiency, electrification combined with renewables, hydrogen use and carbon capture and utilisation will be presented.
