According to a new study by the VUB University in Brussels, it is technologically possible to reduce CO₂ emissions from Belgian industry by 90 percent by 2040-2050, but it won’t be easy. We face major challenges to green our industry and keep it here. Cheaper electricity and large-scale CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) will be essential.
Today, Belgian industry is responsible for 28 percent of our national CO2 emissions, which amounts to 30 megatons per year. Since 1990, these emissions have already been halved, partly due to factory closures, but emissions still need to be significantly reduced.
90 emission reduction technologies
A new VUB report examined 90 technologies that could help drastically reduce emissions from Belgian industry by 2040-2050. The options range from electric cracking plants for the chemical industry to industrial heat pumps and electric boilers to CO₂ capture at cement and steel producers.
“If companies implement available technologies intelligently and on a large scale, it is theoretically possible to achieve a 90 percent reduction in emissions in Belgian industry by 2040 to 2050 compared to 2005,” says Tomas Wyns, a climate and industrial policy researcher at the VUB. But then, cheap electricity and carbon capture facilities will be essential. And that’s where the problem lies for now.
Alarm bell
Two of the largest emitters in Belgium – steel company ArcelorMittal in Ghent and chemical giant BASF in Antwerp – recently sounded the alarm because current electricity prices are far too high. While the electrification of chemical processes may be very promising, the investments are not justified. The study considers CO₂ for such installations in Belgium as the cheaper option.
Capturing CO₂ and storing it in depleted gas fields on the seabed, and switching from gas to electric mega-heat pumps, likely hold the most significant potential.
CCS
A few weeks ago, the Northern Lights project opened in Norway. This is the first European project where CO2 is commercially transported and stored under the sea. Storage at sea is one option, but you can also process the captured CO2 into materials, such as building materials and paving stones.
“To make electricity a more affordable option, you’ll have to ensure that electricity is less than three times as expensive as natural gas,” says Wyns. “If you want a 90 percent reduction in emissions in industry, electricity prices will have to fall even further.”
Accélérer la transition
“Without capture, the industry will struggle to achieve a 40 or 50 percent reduction in emissions,” says Wyns. “It’s therefore essential that we have the CO₂ transport infrastructure ready in the next five to ten years; otherwise, companies won’t be able to invest in it, and we won’t be able to achieve it by 2050.”
“Decarbonisation of the industry is the only option in the long term, but we must do everything we can to accelerate that transition,” concludes professor of environmental economics Johan Albrecht (UGent).
