Process emissions in German industries and their relevance for Germany’s national climate mitigation targets – an outlining of the problem and first options for action

Achieving Germany's climate protection target for 2050 will require significant additional reductions in all sectors of the economy. In the industrial sector, GHG emissions are dominated by a few basic industries, however, these are of great importance for the industrial value chain. The present study by the Institute for Resource Efficiency and Energy Strategies (IREES) commissioned by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, focuses on these sectors and their most important customers in the value chain. Relevant emission sources are being identified; obstacles depicted and approaches for political actions proposed. The study focuses on the non-energy-related process emissions of these industries, as it is another characteristic of the German industrial sector that about a third of its total emissions come from chemical conversion processes of the raw materials used, and the industrial use of particularly potent greenhouse gases. The study identifies the most important sources of process emissions, identifies possible target-compliant technological innovations and analyses their technical and economic obstacles.