Policy Menu for Modernizing Industry

Modernizing industry is a multi-faceted challenge that will require states to support a full suite of policy solutions to meet the unique needs of facilities in different sectors and regions. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, carbon management, clean hydrogen, low-carbon procurement, electrification, and efficiency policies cut across industrial sectors and can be applied in various combinations to greatly reduce a state’s industrial emissions. Additionally, state planning and labor considerations must be taken into account.

These high-level policy considerations are not in order of priority or exhaustive, but are designed as a menu from which a state can mix and match to suit its needs. These recommendations were originally developed as part of the 2022 State Best Practices Guide. 

Carbon Management

Regulatory policies and planning – Clarify existing or establish new authorities and mechanisms responsible for regulating operations and ensuring the performance of duties relating to carbon management technologies and underground storage of carbon oxides, including monitoring, reporting, and verification. 
– Clarify ownership of and responsibility for the injected CO2 and pore space, including the percentage of landowners who need to agree to a project before it can proceed. 
– Determine the capacity to administer a carbon storage program responsibly and whether to apply for Class VI primacy or maintain EPA regulatory oversight for geologic storage injection wells. 
– Facilitate a predictable and timely permitting process for CO2 infrastructure while providing clear safety standards for CO2 capture, transport, and storage. 
– Consider interstate and regional planning for CO2 transport and storage infrastructure.
Market development  – Support the designation of carbon dioxide as a valuable commodity. 
– Establish a procurement program for products made with captured carbon dioxide or provide off-take agreements for low-carbon products. 
– Establish a carbon removal credit program to aid in commercializing the carbon market through direct carbon removal credit procurement. 
Financial incentives – Develop a capital fund to facilitate tax equity markets and create commercial tax credits or direct payments for qualified projects. 
– Expand eligibility for clean product programs to include processes that capture carbon. 
– Optimize state tax policies and expand eligibility for state financing programs.

Clean Hydrogen

Regulatory policies and planning – Facilitate a predictable and timely permitting process for hydrogen infrastructure while providing clear safety standards for hydrogen production, transport, and storage. 
– Create a hydrogen task force or study committee to evaluate the local ability to produce hydrogen from various fuel sources, develop the necessary hydrogen infrastructure, and secure off-takers from diverse industry end uses, informing state targets. 
– Create or expand state government offices to include clean hydrogen production, transport, storage, and related safety standards in their scope and authority. 
– Engage in public disclosure and education around risks, safety, and emergency response measures for hydrogen transportation and storage.
Regional hydrogen networks – Create a hydrogen working group tasked with determining opportunities to connect to existing or proposed hydrogen hubs in the region. Such efforts should consider local resources and relevant economic sectors. 
Financial incentives – Expand clean fuels or low-carbon fuels tax credits to include clean hydrogen production and infrastructure. 
– Provide incentives and financial assistance in the deployment of hydrogen fuel infrastructure.

Low-Carbon Procurement

Regulatory policies and planning – Set regularly updated benchmarks in order to continually increase the stringency of embodied carbon reductions and support innovation. 
– Require transportation departments to use a set percentage of low-carbon concrete, asphalt, steel, and other materials in infrastructure projects. 
– Extend state contracts and procurement guidance resources to local and Native governments to participate in environmentally preferred purchasing agreements. 
Information and disclosure policies– Set environmental product declaration (EPD) requirements and establish grant programs to help stakeholders prepare EPDs. 
– Establish technical advisory committees or otherwise provide technical assistance to advise state departments in charge of procurement (such as the Department of Transportation). 
– Provide technical and financial assistance for manufacturers who face a financial barrier to completing EPDs or similar reporting mechanisms due to their significant cost. 
– Support disclosure around fair labor standards, including compensation, working hours, and collective bargaining.  
Financial incentives – Establish procurement bonus policies that provide a cost discount to a company’s bid if it has a lower carbon intensity than its competitors. 
– Create a fund to cover the cost differential (if any) between low-carbon bids and bids that use conventional technologies. 
– Develop funding mechanisms to support RDD&D to produce low-carbon building materials. 
– Pilot projects with university campuses and test databases to collect information and produce progress reports. 

Electrification & Efficiency 

Regulatory policies and planning – Work with utilities and regulators to facilitate collaborative pathways for electrification, including devising industrial rate structures. 
– Allow innovation and flexibility in the resource planning process for utilities to explore alternative, lower-carbon solutions to meet demand. 
– Study the potential change in electrical load from industrial electrification and the grid modifications needed to ensure reliability. 
– Clarify the authority to develop holistic energy systems and regional transmission plans to enhance grid flexibility and reliability. 
Materials efficiency– Include data on material use in lifecycle assessments for information and disclosure policies. 
– Set material efficiency standards to promote best practices and inform public procurement. 
– Establish policy incentives for the reuse and recycling of high-emission primary materials. 
Financial incentives – Tax credits or grants for breakthrough electrification and efficiency technologies that require support for broader commercialization and deployment. 
– Incentives and technical assistance to accelerate the replacement of large capital investments in process heat and energy efficiency upgrades during equipment replacement. 
– Offer financial assistance to cover the cost of energy audits and the potential improvements recommended by the audits.

State Planning

Regulatory policies and planning – Include participation across state and local officials and representatives of relevant community organizations; industrial, energy, and technology companies; environmental groups; and labor unions in task forces. 
– Produce task force policy recommendations for state agencies on the opportunities, challenges, resources, and impacts associated with industrial decarbonization and develop a public outreach strategy to inform and solicit input from local communities. 
– Increase staffing at the relevant state agencies to support program administration and planning.
Community engagement – Engage with communities at the very beginning of a project and continue timely and frequent communication around project development. 
– Solicit, consider, and respond to input from the public and affected stakeholders (e.g., impacted communities, environmental justice groups, Native nations, and labor unions, among others). 
– Provide education around community safety and right to know at the local level, and supply funding and guidance for emergency response procedures and equipment.
Financing mechanisms – Utilize statewide green banks with carveouts for the industrial sector to accelerate the commercialization of clean energy technologies. 
– Create grant programs for private entities, local governments, and public-private partnerships to pursue voluntary projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and criteria air pollutants from industrial and manufacturing operations. 

Labor & Workforce Development 

Regulatory policies and planning – Adopt project labor agreements (PLAs), which are collective bargaining agreements covering all craft workers on a construction project. When a state government plans a project, it can make PLAs a condition of being awarded a contract, requiring the contractor to sign the negotiated PLA with the relevant union organizations before being hired. 
– Negotiate community workforce agreements (CWAs), which often include community organizations and reflect broader community interests. 
– Use local hire provisions to mandate or incentivize the hiring of workers on a project from within the state or community where the project takes place. 
– Utilize targeted hire provisions of state law or community workforce/community benefit agreements for a project to mandate or incentivize the hiring of workers from certain communities (e.g., Native nations, economically disadvantaged communities, and communities impacted by climate change, among others.) 
– Rebalance the power dynamic between workers trying to organize a union and their employer with organizing rights provisions and negative determination. Negative determination disincentivizes hiring contractors who have previously violated labor, wage, or other regulations. 
Training programs– Develop partnerships with universities, colleges, and training programs that focus on industrial electrification, energy efficiency, and low-carbon technologies. 
– Identify and engage transitioning, affected, and disadvantaged communities, targeting programs with the potential for high workforce development. 
– Partner with Industrial Training and Assessment Centers to conduct energy audits at facilities. 
– Utilize union apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeship programs as key avenues for training workers. Apprenticeship utilization standards require a certain percentage of a project’s workforce to be enrolled in or have graduated from an apprenticeship program and typically favor union contractors. 
Financial incentives – Establish a prevailing wage for public works projects, which sets a wage floor for each occupation that all contractors on a project must pay at or above. This policy is limited to workers employed in the construction industry. 
– Create worker benefits requirements that set a minimum standard for health, retirement, and other benefits that must be given to workers on a project. 

Considering a state’s broader energy policy landscape is helpful when developing policies to support industrial modernization. Below are some examples of formal commitments that are gaining traction across states in the US. While these formal commitments are not prerequisites for innovative industrial policy, they can provide a supportive framework and a shared language for collaborative state work. Discussions around innovative industrial policy present an opportunity for broader conversations about state energy policy to ensure a mutually reinforcing strategy. 

  • Streamline Permitting and Appeals Processes: Streamlining permitting and establishing an efficient, transparent appeals process that engages local communities early while giving clarity and assurances to project developers are key components of effective state energy policy. 
  • Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Target: A state-level directive to reduce emissions by a specific amount by a determined date. Targets can vary by state, including whether the target is economywide or sector-specific, which greenhouse gases are included, and the timeline as well as any interim goals for reducing emissions. For the industrial sector, when a state adopts a GHG emissions target, it signals a formal commitment to reducing emissions and provides a framework for innovation in industrial policy.
  • Electricity Portfolio Standard: A state-level directive that requires electricity providers to source a specific amount of the electricity generated from renewable or clean energy by a determined date (also called a Renewable Portfolio Standard, Clean Energy Standard, Renewable Energy Standard, or Alternative Energy Standard). For the industrial sector, electrifying processes currently powered by fossil fuels is a promising near-term strategy to lower emissions. An electricity portfolio standard helps ensure that this transition is powered by renewable or clean energy.  
  • Clean Heat Standard: A state-level directive that requires thermal energy providers to deliver a specified share of low-emission heat within a determined timeframe. While not yet widely adopted, this standard is gaining traction in many states as a strategy to reduce emissions across sectors. For the industrial sector, thermal energy is necessary for many critical processes and represents a significant source of emissions. A clean heat standard can create opportunities for industry to switch to alternative fuels (e.g. clean hydrogen), electrify processes, and participate in a carbon offset market.

Senior Program Coordinator - Carbon Management, GPI

Carrie Danner joined the Great Plains Institute in 2023 and serves as the operations coordinator for the Carbon Management team. In her work, she supports all projects within the program to elevate operations, specifically in the grant making and event planning spaces. Carrie earned a bachelor’s degree from Knox College in environmental studies. Prior to joining GPI, she supported programs at the Conservation Corps of Minnesota & Iowa as their member experience administrator.

Carbon Management Program Associate, GPI

Alana joined GPI in 2024 as a program associate on the Carbon Management team, specifically supporting the Industrial Innovation Initiative, where she helps to advance industrial decarbonization through GPI’s consensus-building approach. Alana previously worked as an account executive at Jamf, where she helped current K-12 education customers improve and scale the management and security of their Apple device deployments. Alana has spent most of her professional years working with Minnesota nonprofits, including two years as an AmeriCorps member with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in community environmental studies from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Ankita Gangotra, Associate, WRI

Dr. Ankita Gangotra is an Associate in WRI’s US Climate Program, researching avenues to decarbonize the industrial sector, focusing on cement and steel decarbonization, environmental trade policies and international cooperation. Prior to joining WRI, Ankita was a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Foreign Service and the Department of Physics at Georgetown University. Her research looked at the readily available technology and policy options for upgrading low-carbon cement production in the United States. Ankita has an integrated Master's in Electronics Engineering with Nanotechnology from the University of York, UK (2015) and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Auckland, New Zealand (2020). During her time in New Zealand, Ankita interned at the Office of the Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor looking into equity, diversity and inclusion policy options for New Zealand’s science, research and innovation workforce.

Carrie Dellesky, Program and Outreach Manager, Carbon Removal and Industrial Innovation, WRI

Carrie Dellesky is the Program and Outreach Manager for Carbon Removal and Industrial Innovation. She develops strategies to advance policies and practices for scaling up a suite of carbon removal approaches and decarbonizing the industrial sector. She engages allies and builds and expands partnerships to mobilize champions and enhance visibility, action and impact. She also leads communications to amplify research and thought leadership, including messaging, media relations, event planning, social media and digital strategy.

Zachary Byrum, Research Analyst, WRI

Zachary Byrum is a Research Analyst in WRI's U.S. Climate Program, where he provides technology and policy analysis for carbon removal and deep decarbonization. His work focuses on pathways to reduce industrial emissions as well as bolstering technological carbon removal. Prior to WRI, Zach was a research assistant in the Carbon Management Research Initiative at the Center on Global Energy Policy. In the preceding years, he served as White House Intern in the National Economic Council under the Obama Administration and then an assistant analyst at the Congressional Budget Office. Zach holds a Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Goucher College.

Katie Lebling, Associate, WRI

Katie Lebling is an Associate in WRI's Climate Program where she works on research and analysis of technological carbon removal approaches and industrial decarbonization. Before joining WRI, she worked at The Asia Group, and interned at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum and the Treasury Department’s Office of Environment and Energy. She holds a Master's degree from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Energy, Resources, and the Environment, where she spent one year of the program studying in Nanjing, China, and has a B.A. from Colby College in Biology and Chinese language.

Debbie Weyl, Deputy Director, WRI United States

Debbie Karpay Weyl is the Deputy Director for WRI U.S. She previously served as Manager for the Buildings Initiative at WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. She led an expanding global partnership to accelerate building energy efficiency in cities around the world. She also contributed to program management and development, research, and knowledge exchange for urban energy efficiency and sustainability. Debbie joined WRI from CLASP, a global non-profit organization that improves the environmental and energy performance of appliances, lighting and equipment. From 2011-2016 Debbie managed and developed global programs, led research projects, and facilitated collaboration among international experts and other representatives in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining CLASP, Debbie worked at the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, where she was a contractor supporting building efficiency and other energy efficiency programs in the United States. Debbie holds a Master of Science in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a B.A. in Politics (Political Economy and International Relations) from Princeton University.

Angela Anderson, Director of Industrial Innovation and Carbon Removal, WRI United States

Angela Anderson is the Director of Industrial Innovation and Carbon Removal in the Climate Program. She leads WRI's growing portfolio of work in industrial decarbonization and carbon removal and aims to change narratives around “hard-to-abate” sectors and promote the natural and technological interventions required to achieve net-zero targets. Prior to joining WRI, Angela worked as a program director, coalition builder, international advocate, and campaign strategist. She led the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists for ten years; facilitated US-NGO engagement in the international climate negotiations while at US Climate Action Network and at the Pew Environmental Trust; and founded Clear the Air, a national coalition to reduce pollution from power plants. Angela holds a B.A. in political science from Colorado State University.

Patrice Lahlum, Vice President of Carbon Management, GPI

Patrice Lahlum is the vice president of the Carbon Management program at the Great Plains Institute. The Institute, headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, works with diverse stakeholders and communities across the country to transform the energy system to benefit people, the economy, and the environment. We strive to combine our unique consensus-building approach, expert knowledge and analysis, and local action to promote solutions that strengthen communities, shore up the nation’s industrial base, and enhance domestic energy independence, all while eliminating carbon emissions. Patrice oversees several initiatives including the Carbon Capture Coalition, Industrial Innovation Initiative, Carbon Action Alliance, and the Regional Carbon Capture Deployment Initiative.

Kate Sullivan, Senior Program Coordinator, Carbon Management, GPI

Kate Sullivan joined the Great Plains Institute in 2019. As Senior rogram Coordinator, Kate uses her analytical and design skills to provide research, writing, and logistical support across the Carbon Management team. Prior to joining GPI, Kate worked as an Energy Counselor in the Center for Energy and Environment’s residential department, assisting homeowners with their energy needs and providing resources for efficiency upgrades. Kate earned her BA in Biology from St. Olaf College with an emphasis in Environmental Studies.

David Soll, Industrial Decarbonization Manager, GPI

David Soll joined the Great Plains Institute in 2023 and serves as Industrial Decarbonization Manager. He oversees the Industrial Innovation Initiative, a coalition advancing decarbonization solutions for the Midcontinent region’s most important industrial sectors. Prior to joining GPI, he taught history and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he focused on urban infrastructure and energy conservation. David earned a Master’s in government from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in history from Brandeis University.

Jill Syvrud, Senior Program Manager, Carbon Management, GPI

Jill Syvrud joined the Great Plains Institute in 2017 and serves as the program manager for the Carbon Management Program. In addition to overseeing the overall program, Jill directly supports the Industrial Innovation Initiative, a coalition advancing decarbonization solutions for the Midcontinent region’s most important industrial sectors. Jill earned a bachelor of science in biology from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire and a master of science degree in science technology and environmental policy from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Jill’s past experience includes multiple graduate research assistantships concentrating on technology innovation and sustainable megacities along and a previous position as an administrative and outreach coordination intern with the Midwest Renewable Energy Association.