The US will invest US$6 billion to reduce emissions in industrial facilities

The government of Biden announced on Monday an allocation of US$6 billion for projects that reduce emissions in the industrial sector, the largest investment in American history to reduce emissions. carbon dioxide emissions in the local industry and combat climate change.

The industrial sector is responsible for approximately 25% of all emissions in the country, and has proven difficult to reduce due to its large-scale, energy-intensive operations.

Iron, steel, aluminum, food and beverage, concrete and cement facilities are some of those involved in the initiative. Among the recipients of the funding, from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, are 33 pilot projects in more than 20 states.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a call with reporters that the technologies that would be funded are “replicable,” “scalable” and “will set a new standard for clean manufacturing in USA and all over the world”.

White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said the funding aims to eliminate 14 million tons of pollution a year, the equivalent of taking about three million cars off the roads.

Among the projects to be funded is a Kraft Heinz initiative to install heat pumps, electric heaters and electric boilers to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions in food production at 10 facilities across the country, including one in Holland, Michigan.

For its part, the firm Constellium in Ravenswood, West Virginia, aims to operate an aluminum smelter with zero carbon dioxide emissions, the first of its kind, and install low-emission furnaces that can use clean fuels such as hydrogen. The company produces aluminum for a wide range of products, such as cars and airplanes.

Eliminating carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity and transportation sectors has been at the center of the climate conversation and there are generous federal subsidies to implement solutions, mainly with renewable energy to produce energy and adopting electric vehicles, said Todd Tucker, director of industrial and trade policy at the Roosevelt Institute, a nonprofit affiliate of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

However, he noted, it is more difficult to cut emissions in heavy industries that rely on fossil fuels to create the high temperatures and chemical reactions necessary in their operations.

“Getting this going with these first projects is going to be very useful to convince the industry that this transition is possible and also, importantly, convince Wall Street that this transition is possible,” Tucker explained. “The first thing is to show that it is viable in a project. “Once that is done, then the public and private sectors can look for strategies for the rest of the problem.”