General Outlook

The world will need to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to minimise the effects of global climate change. Industry faces the challenge to reduce carbon emissions whilst maintaining competitiveness, and governmental interventions through carbon tax and emission trading are discussed. These greenhouse gas emissions are typically classified as Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. We propose an alternative classification scheme, linking the emissions to the choice of process, transport, product and the assets used for the process. The process industry will reduce its emissions with the further electrification of the process industry, driven by cheap electricity from renewable energy. Novel opportunities may arise from the switch to renewable energy, e.g. in the generation of fuels from waste and from renewable energy.