Industry is an indispensable element of the EU economy. However, the sector is facing complex decarbonisation challenges requiring a shift in the mix of energy and applied feedstocks, partly deep modifications to technological processes and efforts in terms of circular economy.
Progress on industry has been far too slow
The transformation of industry aimed at making the sector compatible with climate neutrality has been progressing far too slow. The reduction of industrial GHG emissions should occur about 2.7 times faster, and requires structural changes to processes across the sector. The share of clean energy carriers used in industry was mostly stagnant in the last five years, although the tendency is positive in the longer run. There are currently no clear signs of a potential acceleration of transition in this sector. The enabling conditions circularity and energy efficiency also experience either lacklustre growth or regress, while availability of clean energies and infrastructure cannot be measured for now due to insufficient monitoring frameworks, itself linked to an early phase of deployment of some of these solutions.
Objectives describe what needs to be achieved in each building block to reach climate neutrality.
EU industrial emissions have been gradually decreasing in the period of 2016-2021; however, the rate of change must be 2.7 times faster than what is currently observed in order to meet the emissions targets implied by the Climate Target Plan. Both elements of the aggregate (process use and energy use emissions, respectively ca. 43% and 57% of the total) followed similar pattern of historical changes.
This indicator shows past development in net-zero industrial GHG emissions in comparison to the EU target of reaching industrial emissions levels of 23.1 MtCO2e by 2050.
The data show an annual decrease of 1.3% between 2016 and 2021. To meet the target, the required annual change between 2021 and 2050 needs to be 2.7 times faster than the current rate of progress.
The indicator measures total GHG emissions from industry and includes:
a) emissions from processes and product use (IPCC cat. 2),
b) emissions from energy use (IPCC cat. 1.A.2).
The indicator measuring share of clean energy carriers in energy and feedstock use is limited in its scope, so that it takes into account only electricity, renewables and biofuels instead of the full spectrum of clean energy carriers, i.e. also green hydrogen. In years 2016-2021 average annual rate of change was equivalent to the decrease of 0.1%, so the changes in the indicator values have to reverse direction to be compatible with climate neutrality.
This indicator shows past development in the share of clean energy carriers in energy and feedstock use.
The data show an annual decrease of 0.1% between 2016 and 2021. This development was heading in the wrong direction.
This is the sum of clean energy carriers for energy and feedstock use compared to the total energy carrier use.
Enablers are the supporting conditions and underlying changes needed to meet the objectives in a given building block. They are the opposite of barriers or inhibitors.
For now, there is no EU-wide aggregated data on the annual production of renewable hydrogen for industrial use.
The indicator measures the amount of renewable hydrogen produced annually in the EU.
For now, there is no EU-wide aggregated data on CO2 injection capacity.
The indicator measures the annual operational CO2 injection capacity.
This indicator shows past development in the circular material use rate in comparison to the EU target of doubling the circular material use rate in 2030 from 2020 levels.
The data show an annual increase of 0.4% between 2016 and 2021. To meet the target, the required annual change between 2021 and 2030 needs to be 24 times faster than the current rate of progress.
The indicator measures the percentage share of material recycled and fed back into the economy in overall material use.
This indicator shows past development in resource productivity.
The data show an annual increase of 2.0% between 2016 and 2021. This development was heading in the right direction, but should accelerate in the future.
The indicator is defined as GDP divided by domestic material consumption, which is defined as the annual quantity of raw materials extracted from the domestic territory of the local economy, plus all physical imports minus all physical exports.
This indicator shows past development in final energy consumption in industry.
The data show an annual decrease of 0.1% between 2016 and 2021. This development was far too slow and should massively accelerate in the future.
Final energy consumption covers deliveries of commodities to consumers in industry sector for activities that are not fuel conversion or transformation activities.
This indicator shows past development in the energy intensity of output.
The data show an annual decrease of 0.6% between 2016 and 2021. This development was heading in the right direction but should massively accelerate in the future.
The indicator is defined as the amount of energy used to produce a given level of output in industry.