TY - JOUR
T1 - Decarbonizing the chemical industry
T2 - A systematic review of sociotechnical systems, technological innovations, and policy options
AU - Chung, Changwoo
AU - Kim, Jinsoo
AU - Sovacool, Benjamin K.
AU - Griffiths, Steve
AU - Bazilian, Morgan
AU - Yang, Minyoung
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would also like to acknowledge support from the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) in the United Kingdom, funded by the UKRI and EPSRC via Grant Number EP/V027050/1 . Also, one of the authors of this paper (Sovacool) is the Editor-in-Chief for Energy Research & Social Science. He was not involved in managing the peer review or editorial process for this article.
Funding Information:
Incentive policy and social instruments are implemented by funding programs, such as the Chinese carbon emission reduction facility program [194] , the EU ETS innovation fund [195] , horizon Europe, recovery and resilience facility, the Japanese feed-in-tariffs, green innovation fund, the Saudi Arabian investment fund for carbon capture and clean cooking fuel, the UK industrial energy transformation fund, net-zero hydrogen fund, CCS infrastructure fund, and the U.S. 45Q tax credit, grants for green hydrogen demonstration projects [193] .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2023/2
Y1 - 2023/2
N2 - Chemicals, essential materials for modern life, emit substantial greenhouse gases during production and use. Like the other carbon-intensive industries, the chemical industry is a complex and diverse industry to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Decarbonizing the chemical industry is critical to overcoming the climate crisis and building a sustainable and vibrant future. We conducted a comprehensive and systematic review screening more than 5.6 million articles and thoroughly analyzing a shortlist of 246 studies about the decarbonization innovations of the chemical industry. Based on the review results, we identified the sociotechnical system of the industry into four groups: raw materials, chemical making processes, chemical product making and usage, and waste management and recycling. Our review also assesses the opportunities, challenges, current and emerging practices, and 71 potentially transformative technologies for the decarbonization of the chemical industry. The decarbonization innovations for the industry create environmental, financial, and collateral benefits. Still, there are also barriers across economic, technical, political, and behavioral aspects to decarbonization. To overcome those barriers, the review suggests policy and social instruments. We lastly outlined research gaps and future agendas for the chemical industry's decarbonization.
AB - Chemicals, essential materials for modern life, emit substantial greenhouse gases during production and use. Like the other carbon-intensive industries, the chemical industry is a complex and diverse industry to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Decarbonizing the chemical industry is critical to overcoming the climate crisis and building a sustainable and vibrant future. We conducted a comprehensive and systematic review screening more than 5.6 million articles and thoroughly analyzing a shortlist of 246 studies about the decarbonization innovations of the chemical industry. Based on the review results, we identified the sociotechnical system of the industry into four groups: raw materials, chemical making processes, chemical product making and usage, and waste management and recycling. Our review also assesses the opportunities, challenges, current and emerging practices, and 71 potentially transformative technologies for the decarbonization of the chemical industry. The decarbonization innovations for the industry create environmental, financial, and collateral benefits. Still, there are also barriers across economic, technical, political, and behavioral aspects to decarbonization. To overcome those barriers, the review suggests policy and social instruments. We lastly outlined research gaps and future agendas for the chemical industry's decarbonization.
KW - Chemical industry
KW - Climate change
KW - Climate mitigation
KW - Energy policy
KW - Industrial decarbonization
KW - Sociotechnical system
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85146538325&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.erss.2023.102955
DO - 10.1016/j.erss.2023.102955
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85146538325
SN - 2214-6296
VL - 96
JO - Energy Research and Social Science
JF - Energy Research and Social Science
M1 - 102955
ER -
