Decarbonising industry requires transforming supply chains, rethinking investment decisions, securing demand for green products and coordinating policies across sectors. However, rather than being a burden, this transformation can become a foundation for competitiveness and inclusive growth – if countries align their strategies and leverage their specific strengths. Work by the E+ Energy Transition Institute in Brazil shows how this can be achieved, identifying the policy and investment frameworks needed to turn decarbonisation into an engine of industrial renewal.
Around the world, the geography of production is changing. As renewable energy becomes a key factor of competitiveness, it no longer makes sense to expand industry to where clean energy is scarce and expensive. In many cases, it is more efficient to bring new industrial supply chains – or at least segments of them – to where renewable resources are abundant, where logistics and governance allow scaling and where emissions can be drastically reduced. This approach would allow for a better distribution of the next generation of industry around clean energy sources, considering also the key role of small and medium enterprises in supply chains.
For regions like Latin America, this would open a window of opportunity, as they hold a substantial share of the renewable and mineral resources needed for the transition and can position themselves as strategic partners in emerging global value chains. For industrialised economies, this approach offers access to cleaner products and diversified trade relations in a volatile geopolitical context.
At the same time, clean power alone will not decarbonise industry completely. In countries like Brazil, for example, many solutions lie in bio-based inputs and processes – from biomass and biomethane to biofuels and biochemicals used as industrial feedstocks or process agents. While the transition is a global challenge, the viable routes are local, shaped by each country’s resource endowment, socio-economic and industrial structures and development priorities. Integrating the biogenic carbon cycle into international certification systems, while ensuring safeguards on land, water and biodiversity, is essential for recognising these contributions fairly in global markets.
A coordinated global effort to make industrial decarbonisation is both feasible and equitable. But for this transformation to truly materialise, clear and sustained demand for low-carbon products is essential (security of demand). Market pull – such as from buyers, standards and green procurement – will be critical to scaling investments in cleaner production. By connecting regions rich in renewable,
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