January 19, 2023

Decarbonization of Industrial Clusters Initiative Gains Global Momentum


DAVOS, Switzerland; Jan. 19, 2023 – Nine leading industrial clusters in China, Indonesia, Japan, Spain and the United States have joined the World Economic Forum initiative, Transitioning Industrial Clusters towards Net Zero, to help industries reduce emissions. The initiative is supported by Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and EPRI. The latest members were announced today at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2023.

Launched in 2021, the initiative focuses on reducing heavy industry asset emissions in regional industrial zones, while supporting job creation and increasing economic competitiveness. Industrial clusters account for 15%-20% of global CO2 emissions, making them an attractive target for emission reductions. Industries in the same general location benefit not only from sharing risk, infrastructure and natural resources but also from a united approach to tackle decarbonization along with workforce transformation and environmental justice.

The latest members of the initiative are:

The new members join eight other initiative signatory clusters: Brightlands Circular Space, H2Houston Hub, Ohio Clean Hydrogen Hub Alliance, Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Zero Carbon Humber, Hynet North West, Kwinana Industries Council, and the Net-Zero Basque Industrial Supercluster.

Combined, the new clusters add significant decarbonization potential, bringing the CO2 emissions of all the initiative’s members to 451 million metric tonnes emitted per year, comparable to the annual emissions of Turkey. The 17 members also contribute economically by employing more than 2.7 million people and represent an annual GDP contribution of $218 billion.

“Reaching net zero goals will require doubling the rate of carbon emissions reductions by 2030, and this is a significant challenge,” said Melissa Stark, a managing director and Global Energy Transition Services lead at Accenture. “The initiative’s collaborative approach to achieve this goal, while enabling job creation, productivity gains and green credentials is critical to future competitiveness. Accenture is committed to bringing its deep industry expertise and ability to rapidly apply new business models and technologies to this global challenge.”

“Kawasaki, which is located between Tokyo and Yokohama, is one of the largest industrial cities in Japan where we are working with companies to form a base for importing CO2-free hydrogen from overseas and create an area that will drive carbon neutrality in Japan,” said Norihiko Fukuda, Mayor of Kawasaki City. “I’m confident these efforts will be strongly accelerated by deepening collaboration with other clusters through the Initiative.”

Industrial clusters are powerful drivers of innovation at scale and knowledge sharing. The expanded initiative community includes new green-field operations, particularly a number of hydrogen clusters that are future-energy export hubs aimed at developing international green energy corridors.

“Green hydrogen is the best low-carbon alternative for hard-to-abate sectors including industry and heavy transport,” said Maarten Wetselaar, CEO of Cepsa. “We see more and more customers keen to commit to green hydrogen consumption and Southern Spain offers one of the best price points in Europe to produce it. Cepsa’s two projects in our Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley, the largest green hydrogen hub in Europe, will help create a commercial construct to meet this demand, decarbonize local industry and begin to provide the scale Spain needs to become a net exporter of clean energy.”

“The Indo-pacific Net-zero Battery-materials Consortium (INBC) will accelerate developments of battery gigafactories across the world,” said Anindya Bakrie, Consortium Lead Representative of INBC and CEO of Bakrie & Brothers. “As we play our part in the end-to-end global EV supply chain – started with Indonesia and the UK – we will position INBC as the go-to alternative for ESG-processed nickel and battery materials. Collaboration is the key to a successful net zero sustainability transition, and hence we are very excited to be joining the Transitioning Industrial Clusters towards Net-zero initiative.”

Building on these developments, the initiative has published its first report, Transitioning Industrial Clusters towards Net Zero, and will host a number of public-private roundtables and regional workshops in 2023. These events will strengthen public-private collaboration and pursue further policy analysis beyond the recently published white paper, Transitioning Industrial Clusters towards Net Zero: National Policy Enablement for Industrial Decarbonization.

About the Transitioning Industrial Clusters towards Net Zero Initiative
The Transitioning Industrial Clusters towards Net Zero initiative aims to accelerate the transition of industrial clusters globally towards net-zero emissions. Through the initiative’s structured approach to financing, policy, technology and partnerships, combined with best practices from committed clusters, industrial hubs will be enabled to accelerate their alignment on net-zero targets and implementation strategies.

About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent and innovation led company with 738,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. We are uniquely able to deliver tangible outcomes because of our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Accenture Song. These capabilities, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients succeed and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

About EPRI
Founded in 1972, EPRI is the world’s preeminent independent, non-profit energy research and development organization, with offices around the world. EPRI’s trusted experts collaborate with more than 450 companies in 45 countries, driving innovation to ensure the public has clean, safe, reliable, affordable, and equitable access to electricity across the globe. Together, we are shaping the future of energy.

About the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2023
The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2023 convenes the world’s foremost leaders under the theme Cooperation in a Fragmented World. It calls on world leaders to address immediate economic, energy and food crises while laying the groundwork for a more sustainable, resilient world. For further information, please click here.

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Contacts:

Guy Cantwell
Accenture
+1 281 900 9089
guy.cantwell@accenture.com

Rachel Gantz
EPRI
+1 202 293 7517
rgantz@epri.com

Sahil Raina
World Economic Forum
+41 79 55966273
sahil.raina@weforum.org

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