Zero-Carbon Industry - (Center on Global Energy Policy) by Jeffrey Rissman (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book delivers a first-of-its-kind roadmap for the zero-carbon industrial transition, spotlighting the breakthrough innovations transforming the manufacturing sector and the policies that can accelerate this global shift.

Book Synopsis

The power sector and transportation tend to dominate conversations about climate change, but there's an under-the-radar source of climate pollution that must be addressed: industry. Globally, industrial activity is responsible for one-third of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Though industry is a major emitter, it is essential for producing the tools we need to fight climate change--like wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicles--and for meeting our everyday needs. How can industry eliminate its climate pollution while supplying transformational technologies?

This book delivers a first-of-its-kind roadmap for the zero-carbon industrial transition, spotlighting the breakthrough innovations transforming the manufacturing sector and the policies that can accelerate this global shift. Jeffrey Rissman illustrates the scope of the challenge, diving into the workings of heavy polluters like steel, chemicals, plastics, cement, and concrete. He examines ways to affordably decarbonize manufacturing, such as electrifying industrial processes, using hydrogen, deploying carbon capture and storage, and growing material efficiency with lightweighting and 3D printing. But technologies are only part of the picture. Enacting the right policies--including financial incentives, research and development support, well-designed carbon pricing, efficiency and emissions standards, and green public procurement--can spur investment and hasten emissions reductions. Rissman provides a framework to ensure that the transition to clean industry enhances equity, health, and prosperity for communities worldwide.

Engaging and comprehensive, Zero-Carbon Industry is the definitive guide to decarbonizing the vast--yet often overlooked--global industrial sector.

Review Quotes

Decarbonizing industry is the last, hardest, and most critical task for staving off the worst effects of climate change. But it's a solvable problem, and Rissman is the right person to walk us through the suite of options and pathways to do just that. Ambitious in scope, straightforward in its approach, analytical in its bearing, nuanced in its details, and optimistic in its intent, this book lays out a blueprint for how to get there.--Michael E. Webber, professor in energy resources at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Power Trip: The Story of Energy

For those who hear the words "climate change" and picture dirty power plants and fossil fuel pipelines, read this book. It opened my eyes and will open yours to the fact that the industrial sector is responsible for one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. So, what do we do? Read this book. Rissman explores the new technologies, processes, and policies that could--with continued investment in research and development--transform the relatively small set of industries responsible for the lion's share of this sector's emissions into the economic engines of the future.--Gina McCarthy, former U.S. national climate adviser and former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Jeffrey Rissman takes on the most formidable of all climate goals: the complete elimination of fossil fuels employed by industrial processes. The emitter of one-third of all greenhouse gases is quickly becoming the innovator. With scholarship and élan, Zero-Carbon Industry describes the brilliant, practical, and step-by-step pathways that will achieve this goal.--Paul Hawken, executive director of Project Regeneration and author of Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming

Tired of all the gloomy climate projections? Take a look at Jeffrey Rissman's book. He gives a clear-eyed account of all the major greenhouse gas-emitting processes, products, technologies, and industries and describes how each can be transformed. Rissman considers the science, technology, economics, and policy to show the way. He finds optimism in the details.--Dr. Rush D. Holt, former member of Congress and CEO emeritus, American Association for the Advancement of Science

About the Author

Jeffrey Rissman is the senior director of the industry program at Energy Innovation, a nonpartisan energy and climate policy think tank. His work focuses on technologies and policies to achieve net zero industrial greenhouse gas emissions. He is the coauthor of Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy (2018) and the creator of the open-source Energy Policy Simulator.