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Transformative Industry

How Industry Can be a Force of Change

Alex Spears

Westminster College
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Introduction

In the last few years of my life, I have noticed that people generally fall into two camps

when it comes to discussing industry and the environment. You have those that believe that

industry is the antithesis of environmental protection. These individuals usual would describe

themselves as environmental activists and in their minds industry is the main cause of the

damage we have done to our world and is the main obstacle in our way of protecting the

environment. Conversely, you have those who believe that environmental regulations on

industry stifle innovation and prevent industrial progress. Many of these individuals have ended

up in the camp of those who are skeptical of the claims of a changing climate and more skeptical

of those who suggest we interfere with the free market in an effort to fix the perceived problem.

Not everything I have said is indicative of everyone that falls into one or both of the camps

mentioned and I don’t want to paint with too broad a brush. For myself and probably others,

there may be a third option. The positions mentioned above are not mutually exclusive, industry

can be the cause of many of our environmental problems but perhaps it can also be the solution.

In this paper, I will be looking at the ways that industry is using its power and influence to

reduce not only its but societies’ impact on the planet here and elsewhere.

Discussion

It seems appropriate that we start with why any of this is important to talk about in the

first place. As someone who has decided to dedicate themselves to science, I might take for

granted much of the background that has informed my convictions. Many people may not have

that background so it must be established. Human innovation and the creation of new industry

has always had an impact on the environment. The rise of malaria has been linked to the rise of
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agriculture and the slash and burn practices the accompanied it. Even today these practices cause

increased risk to those who use them (Galagan et al., 2014). The main problem we face today

when talking about the industry is the use of fossil fuels. It has long been known to the

scientific community that climate change is a

major factor to consider when we talk about the

future of this planet. The idea of global warming

due to the emissions of CO2 caused by human

activity is not new and was first written about and

published in 1896, by the Swedish scientist and

winner of the 1903 Nobel Prize in chemistry,

Svante Arrhenius. Arrhenius claimed that the

combustion of fossil fuels may eventually result

in enhanced global warming and proposed a

relation between CO2 in the atmosphere and

global temperature. In the 1930’s people in the

United States and in the North Atlantic, realized

that the temperature had increased dramatically over the last half-century. Most argued that this

was caused by a natural cycle. However, a man by the name of Guy Stewart Callendar argued

that this increase was not due to a natural cycle but rather the burning of CO2 causing emissions.

In the 1950’s Callendar’s claims provoked other scientists to look into increased technologies

and calculations to determine the impact of CO2 emissions on the climate. By the 1970’s we

saw an increase in environmentalism and a rise in public doubt about the benefits human activity
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had on the environment. In the summer of 1988, the idea of climate change caught public

attention by being the hottest summer ever recorded up till then. Since then almost every year

has been hotter than the previous, with the ten hottest years, of the 136 previously recorded,

occurring since the year 2000 ("Global Surface Temperature | NASA Global Climate Change",

2019). In 2015 the mean global temperature was 14.8 degrees Celsius, the warmest the planet

had been in thousands of years. In the same year, the level of CO2 in the atmosphere measured

400 parts per million, the highest it had been in millions of years. William Nordhaus a Nobel

prize-winning economist, in 1974 talked about what he called the “cowboy economy’ and the

“spaceship economy”. About the former, he wrote “we could afford to use or resources

profligately,” and said, “the environment could be used as a sink without becoming fouled.”

About the latter, he said “great attention must be paid to the sources of life and to the dumps

where our refuse is piled”, adding “Things which have traditionally been treated as free goods:

air; water; quiet; natural beauty; must now be treated with the same care as other scarce goods.”

In his paper “Resources as a Constraint on Growth”.

Application

Many before me and probably many to come have and will provide ways in which we

can get industry to change its bad habits, most of whom are far more qualified them myself to

make such suggestions. So instead of suggesting my own, it seems more prudent to look at some

fo those that have been suggested and see just how they stack up.
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Oil and Gas

Oil and gas is the heavy-hitter when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. Globally,

34% of our energy comes from oil, 28% from coal, and 24% from natural gas. This energy is not

only used to heat our homes and turn on our lights but is used in all of the other industries I am

going to talk about. One of the major ideas when talking about oil and gas is a carbon tax. The

Climate Leadership Council is an organization with founding members such as Shell, Exxon

Mobil, the World Wildlife Fund, Ford, General Motors, and many other corporate, energy, NGO

and individual founding members. Together they have created what they call “The Four Pillars

of Our Carbon Dividend Plan” starting that “Economists agree that an escalating carbon fee

offers the most cost-effective climate policy solution, sending a powerful price signal to steer

businesses and consumers towards a low-carbon future.” Their plan is economy-wide fees on

carbon emissions starting at $40 a ton and increasing every year at 5% above inflation.

Predictions say that if implemented in 2021 carbon emissions could be cut in have by 2035.

Many of these companies have been accused of doing this to help themselves, the second pillar is

dividends paid to all U.S. citizens. This is in part due to some of the increased energy costs

associated with the reduction. Under this plan, a family of four could expect to receive $2000 a

year their first year that will increase as the carbon fee increases. To help integrate this system in

a global environment, the fourth pillar creates border carbon adjustments where exports to

countries without comparable pricing systems will receive rebates and those importing from

these countries will face fees. The goal is to create competitiveness of American-based

companies over less efficient foreign competitors("Advantages of a Carbon Dividends Plan |

Climate Leadership Council", n.d.).

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Cement

Concrete is the second most-consumed material on the planet after water (Low, 2005) and

production currently creates up to 8% of carbon emissions worldwide, 50% of which is the

chemical process and 40% from burning fuel (Lehne & Preston, 2018). One of the major

problems with cement is that as the population increases, especially in Asia where cement

production is already the highest, the need for cement is expected to increase. With this increase,

many are looking into ways to reduce the carbon footprint of the cement and concrete industry.

To be in line with the Paris Agreement annual emissions must fall by 16% by 2030 or 0.7%

annually. The trick is to find a solution that does not increase the price of cement. Because of

the need for concrete in emerging economies, the need for it is high and the need for it to stay

cheap is also necessary. A team at MIT is looking into ways to create emission-free concrete.

As of September 2019, the researchers have found a way to do it. The process not only

eliminates the need to burn fossil fuels in the healing process but also prevents all carbon from

entering the atmosphere during the chemical process. This trapped carbon can then be used for

other applications (Chandler, 2019).

Steel

Over 90% of the metal produced in the world is steel, this production accounts for 9% of

global greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. Unfortunately, this industry is also at risk of

missing its targeted 65% reduction by 2050. Steel production is in some ways hampered by the

law of chemistry making carbon emissions an unavoidable consequence. In this scenario there

are two options, you focus on avoiding carbon in the production process, or you could use

end-of-line storage technology to capture the carbon. On option to help with the former is
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changing from blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces, these produce much less carbon the blast

furnaces and have the benefit of being less expensive. What is holding this back is there isn’t

enough renewable energy to account for the energy needs. Another solution is to find ways to

use hydrogen in place of carbon monoxide in the iron ore reduction process which produces the

most carbon. Currently, three Swedish companies are creating a joint venture called Hydrogen

Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology or HYBRIT for short. Estimates of this process have

carbon emission in Sweden by ten percent and seven percent in Finland.

Conclusion

For a long time industry has had a bad reputation for being the main cause of climate

change. While many of these accusations are well-founded what is often ignored is the many

industries that are setting their sites on reducing their impact on themselves and other industries.

Recently many industries have been looking into ways to reduce their impact on the earth in very

interesting and innovative ways. Since 2005 our emissions have reduced by around 14%. This

reduction from our peak emissions is due to many variables however shifts in the industry have

been a major contributor to this reduction. Electrical use by industry was responsible for 18% of

this reduction and reduced fuel consumption is another 14%. Shifts in coal to gas in the power

sector is responsible for 33% of the reduction (Hausfather, 2017). In our changing world, we

need to find ways to work with instead of against industries that can be and are at the forefront of

emergent technologies to help us reduce our impact on this planet. If we can work with them and

find ways to incentivize them to make the change, I do believe they can be an overwhelming

force of good.
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References

Advantages of a Carbon Dividends Plan | Climate Leadership Council. Retrieved 9 December

2019, from https://clcouncil.org/advantages-of-a-climate-dividends-plan/

Chandler, D. (2019). New approach suggests path to emissions-free cement. Retrieved 9

December 2019, from

http://news.mit.edu/2019/carbon-dioxide-emissions-free-cement-0916

Galagan, S., Haq, M., Khyang, J., Khan, W., Sullivan, D., & Ahmed, S. et al. (2014). The

Practice of Jhum Cultivation and its Relationship to Plasmodium falciparum Infection in

the Chittagong Hill Districts of Bangladesh. The American Journal Of Tropical Medicine

And Hygiene, 91(2), 374-383. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.13-0592

Global Surface Temperature | NASA Global Climate Change. (2019). Retrieved 9 December

2019, from http://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/

Hausfather, Z. (2017). Analysis: Why US carbon emissions have fallen 14% since 2005 | Carbon

Brief. Retrieved 18 November 2019, from

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-why-us-carbon-emissions-have-fallen-14-since-200

Lehne, J., & Preston, F. (2018). Making Concrete Change, Innovation in Low-carbon Cement

and Concrete. Retrieved 9 December 2019, from

https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/publications/research/2018-06-13-maki

ng-concrete-change-cement-lehne-preston.pdf
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Low, M. (2005). Material flow analysis of concrete in the United States. Retrieved 9 December

2019, from https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/33030