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State Best Practices Guide for Decarbonizing Industry

A new guide from the Industrial Innovation Initiative (I3) – a partnership among industrial, labor, and environmental stakeholders – recommends a suite of state policies and approaches to scale industrial decarbonization solutions.   

The State Best Practices Guide for Decarbonizing Industry pairs state-level policy recommendations with real-world examples of state legislation in use or under consideration across the United States. This unique pairing will aid state decision makers and advocates seeking to cut emissions from essential industrial sectors such as cement, steel, and chemicals by providing a starting point for policy development and state planning.

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Created with input from participating state officials, industry, labor, and environmental stakeholders, the guide emphasizes the critical role states will play in decarbonizing the US industrial sector. Supported by the recent influx of federal funding, states can create a regulatory and policy landscape that spurs local implementation, drives private investments, and complements federal incentives.

The approaches described in the guide outline state policy options and current best practices that can help scale up industrial decarbonization solutions and positively affect local communities throughout the value chain. From retrofits to fuel switching, industrial decarbonization will have far-reaching upstream and downstream impacts on local jobs, health, and economies.   

The guide can be used in its entirety or as modules, should a state be particularly focused on an individual technology or policy. 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 mixed and matched to greatly reduce a state’s industrial emissions. Additionally, cohesive state planning that emphasizes community engagement and impact, along with labor and workforce development considerations are critical components of any comprehensive plan to decarbonize a state.  

The six modules of the Guide

State Planning

The recommendations for state planning create cohesion and work as a part of the state’s larger decarbonization strategy. Supporting emerging technologies and cooperation among industrial sectors can help build markets for low-carbon industrial products and technologies while considering specific place-based needs. Investments in industrial decarbonization also serve as an opportunity to develop and implement projects in a way that prioritizes the health, safety, and economic activity of surrounding communities. 

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Labor and Workforce Development 

Investments in industrial decarbonization must be done in a way that benefits workers and prioritizes local communities. States can use this guide to craft policies that ensure industrial decarbonization goes hand in hand with the growth of good union jobs. In setting industrial decarbonization priorities, states can utilize these policy tools to grow the clean economy’s high-road workforce. 

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Carbon Management 

State policies play a critical role in helping individual carbon capture, transport, utilization, and geologic storage projects achieve feasibility. Carbon management is a key solution for eliminating process emissions from heavy industry. The policy approaches outlined in this guide can help a state provide investment certainty, enable cost reductions, and spur deployment for projects. 

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Clean Hydrogen 

Hydrogen holds great promise as a low- and zero-carbon fuel and chemical feedstock. It can be flexibly produced given available energy resources, and when burned generates high-temperature heat that industrial processes require. This guide identifies the state policies needed to reduce the cost of producing low- and zero-carbon hydrogen, spur deployment of new transport and distribution infrastructure, and help develop the consumer market. 

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Low-Carbon Procurement 

State procurement policies provide an opportunity for governments to lead by example. They are a critical lever to create a low-carbon product market and ensure reliable demand. This approach will help increase the deployment of new market-ready, low-carbon technologies through incentives or requirements for the public sector market. The policies set forth in the guide will be particularly effective for construction materials sectors, such as cement and steel, where state governments are one of the largest purchasers. 

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Electrification and Efficiency 

Many industrial processes can be electrified to reduce their direct emissions without impacting the final product. It is essential to pursue energy efficiency improvements in parallel with electrification to help offset expected increases in overall electricity demand. Efficiency measures described in this guide also have additional co-benefits, including the reduction of overall operating expenses, which can, in turn, lower the cost hurdle for other decarbonization solutions. 

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Taken together, this suite of “best practices” aims to help states think through the regulatory, financial, and geographic aspects of decarbonization. These recommendations are generally bipartisan and widely supported among I3’s industrial stakeholders — making the often dubbed, “hard to decarbonize,” industrial sectors a bit easier to approach.  

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The Industrial Innovation Initiative (I3) is an ambitious coalition that aims to advance solutions key to decarbonizing the industrial sector through policy development and implementation, technology demonstration and adoption, and demand-side market development. The Initiative builds on years of stakeholder engagement and extensive work by its co-conveners, the Great Plains Institute and the World Resources Institute, to collaborate with government officials and advance decarbonization solutions important to the industrial sector. 

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Labor Engagement Manager for Industrial Innovation and Carbon Management, GPI

Alejandro comes to GPI from Labor Union SEIU-United Service Workers West. He represented union workers from downtown Los Angeles and LA’s westside corridor of Century City, Westwood, and Beverly Hills. Alejandro enforced various collective bargaining agreements for union workers, ensuring annual wage increases, health insurance, and other benefits and protections. In addition, he worked with union leaders and outside stakeholders, such as community partners, public agencies, politicians, and industry experts, to develop and execute union campaigns. Alejandro was also part of the Los Angeles-Justice for Janitors 2021 union contract campaign—he helped execute and coordinate large-scale actions across LA’s metropolitan area. Previously, he served as the Nevada state canvassing director at For Our Future Action Fund. He holds a BA in international studies and Italian from the University of Kansas.

Senior Program Coordinator for Industrial Innovation and Carbon Management, GPI

Carrie Danner joined the Great Plains Institute in 2023 and serves as the operations coordinator for the Industrial Innovation and Carbon Management team. In her work, she supports all projects within the program to elevate operations, particularly in grant-making and event planning. 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.

Industry Program Coordinator, GPI

Alana joined GPI in 2024 as a program associate on the Industrial Innovation and 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.

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.

Senior Advisor of Industrial Innovation, 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.

Vice President of Industrial Innovation and Carbon Management, GPI

Patrice Lahlum is the Vice President of the Industrial Innovation and 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.

Senior Content Specialist for Industrial Innovation and Carbon Management, GPI

Kate Sullivan joined the Great Plains Institute in 2019. As Senior Content Specialist, Kate uses her analytical and design skills to provide research, writing, and logistical support across the Industrial Innovation and 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.

Senior Program Manager for Industrial Innovation and Carbon Management, GPI

Jill Syvrud joined the Great Plains Institute in 2017 and serves as the program manager for the Industrial Innovation and 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, as well as a previous position as an administrative and outreach coordination intern with the Midwest Renewable Energy Association.