Industry and climate change
The Industrial Revolution has changed forever the course of human progress, giving room for the development of new technical discoveries and the many times better living standards. In most European countries, industry provides more than half of the national income. The industry manufactures products for final consumption or semi-finished products. Every industrial activity has an impact on the environment, as it needs energy, water and raw materials. The impact is stronger when the materials and energy used in production are non-renewable. Emissions and industrial waste have also had an impact on the environment.
Major industrial impacts on the environment include:
- emission of various pollutants into the air, including greenhouse gases;
- water pollution, with the resulting effects on the soil and subsoil;
- waste generation and disposal;
- consumption of vast quantities of water; and
- occupation of large areas of land.
Globally, more than half of the direct emissions of greenhouse gases, waste and wastewater from industry come from the Asian region. Next are the United States and Europe. Countries in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America have made smaller contributions.
Industrial activity in Europe accounts for nearly a third of Europe's CO2 emissions, about 7% of N2O, and more than a quarter of all waste generated. More than half of the water consumed in Europe is used for industrial purposes.
Although industry uses energy and non-renewable resources and is a contributor to several types of contamination and pollution, it also plays a major role in providing solutions to environmental problems, including the development of new processes and machinery necessary for effective pollution abatement.
The absolute reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial sector, for example, requires the introduction of new approaches and practices such as:
- continuous improvement of energy efficiency;
- the use of new types of fuels and raw materials that emit less greenhouse gas emissions;
- introduction of CO2 capture facilities;
- efficient use of materials (for example: removing less scrap, creating a new product design);
- recycling and reuse of materials and products;
- efficiency improvement of product service (for example: car sharing, maintenance of buildings for longer life, ensuring longer product life).
According to scientists, the use of energy in industrial production can be reduced by approximately 25% compared to the current level, and this can be done by replacing and implementing the best available technologies, especially in countries where they haven’t been in use yet. Further reductions in energy intensity of up to approximately 20% can be achieved through the introduction of innovations. Barriers to the implementation of such measures are largely related to the need for initial investment costs and the lack of information.
Small and medium-sized enterprises can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions along with large energy-intensive industries such as: replacing engines with new efficient ones, introducing electronic control systems for production processes, reducing gas or steam leaks in the air, helping this way the optimization of the industrial processes productivity.
The promotion and demand for new and substitute products (whose production involves reduced energy use and greenhouse gas emissions) is also a successful way to tackle climate change. For example: extending the life of a product and using it more intensively can help reduce market demand without reducing service.
Cooperation between different industrial sectors at different levels (e.g. sharing infrastructure, information, waste management facilities, heating and cooling) can provide additional savings in energy, water and material consumption, which in turn leads to lower greenhouse gases emissions. The formation of industrial parks and similar cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises is an increasingly common practice in many developing countries.
Measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are often associated with parallel indirect private and social benefits such as:
- increasing competitiveness by reducing costs,
- opening new business opportunities,
- better compliance with environmental protection requirements,
- ensuring a healthier environment through better air and water quality and local waste reduction, and
- improvement of working conditions for employees in the enterprise.
The main challenge for the industrial sector is still the uncertainty, incompleteness and quality of public data on energy use, as well as information on the costs needed to implement specific technologies, programs and policies related to tackling climate change.
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