Industrial heating is responsible for nearly one-fifth of global energy consumption, with the majority of this demand met through the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. Decarbonising this sector is therefore central to reducing emissions and meeting climate targets.
The scale of the challenge becomes clear in industries like steel, which alone accounts for around 7% of global anthropogenic emissions. With steel demand projected to rise by 30% by 2050, the need to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors is urgent. Yet many industrial processes rely on extremely high temperatures that are difficult—and often costly—to achieve with today’s clean energy technologies.
Progress will require coordinated investment, collaboration, and innovation. Decarbonising industrial heat through clean technologies will play a defining role in enabling the transition to a low-carbon economy.
This article provides an overview of industrial heating, outlines the different types of heating processes, and examines the barriers that continue to slow the pace of decarbonisation.
Understanding industrial heat
What is industrial heating?
Industrial heating refers to the generation and use of thermal energy to convert raw materials into manufactured goods or processing of goods. Heat is central to the production of goods like cement, steel, paper, food, and more. The process uses systems like heaters, blast furnaces, cement kilns, and steam boilers to name a few. The emissions from industrial heating are primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen oxide.
Process heating can be applied in different ways depending on the industry. In metals, it supports high-temperature operations such as calcination, arc melting, and induction heating. In non-metal industries, applications range from pasteurization and drying to sterilization and chemical treatment.
Because industries require heat at vastly different temperature levels, from low-grade applications in food processing to extreme temperatures in steelmaking, there is no single universal solution for reducing emissions. Addressing this challenge requires a range of innovative technologies tailored to the specific needs of each sector.
Types of heating processes
Industrial heating needs vary significantly by sector and are typically classified into three broad temperature ranges.
Low-Temperature Heat (<150°C)
Manufacture of food, beverage, textile, paper, and pharmaceutical industries.
Applications include boiling, pasteurization, sterilization, cleaning, drying, bleaching, steaming, and cooking.
Medium-Temperature Heat (150–400°C)
Manufacture of chemicals, polymers, and general industrial products.
Applications include casting, refining, materials processing, and more.
High-Temperature Heat (>400°C)
Manufacture of steel, cement, glass, ceramics, and petrochemicals.
Applications include materials transformation, melting, purification, and calcination to name a few.
Across industries, the suitability of heating technologies is determined by several factors like the required temperature range, technology maturity, industrial plant size and location, availability of feedstocks, and operational efficiency. For industrial operators, minimizing downtime is often the top priority, followed closely by optimizing the cost of heat supply.
Looking ahead, low and medium-temperature applications are expected to account for around three-quarters of projected growth in industrial heat demand by 2040, driven largely by less energy-intensive sectors.
Challenges in decarbonizing industrial heat
Despite many technological advances, several obstacles continue to limit the pace of decarbonization in industrial heating. Key challenges include:
On-site heat generation and location constraints
Most industrial facilities generate heat on-site, often far from renewable sources such as biomass or solar plants. This limits decarbonization efforts and makes costs highly site-specific.
Colocation of shared infrastructure can help reduce costs, but geographic constraints such as weak solar or wind resources or limited access to CO₂ storage sites often limit feasibility. Electrification, while promising, typically requires major grid upgrades and close coordination with utilities.
High temperature requirements
Industrial heat demand spans a wide range of processes from low-temperature drying in food production to high-temperature reactions in cement kilns. Technology and fuel options are temperature-specific and rarely interchangeable. For instance, heat pumps are efficient for low-temperature needs but cannot substitute for the extreme heat required in steelmaking or cement.
Continuous and reliable supply of heat
Industrial processes often run continuously requiring steady heat delivery across the year. Any interruptions in energy supply or fluctuations in temperature can disrupt production. Decarbonization solutions must therefore guarantee both the ability to reach required temperatures and maintain them consistently.
Bioenergy limitations
Bioenergy can supply high-temperature heat but is constrained by cost, land, and resource availability. Unlike other renewable sources that often rely on onsite inputs, biomass requires extraction, transport, and storage, adding complexity and expense. Large land requirements further restrict where plants can operate, while the cultivation of biomass feedstocks can have environmental trade-offs.
Capital intensive industry
Many clean heat alternatives increase production costs, making adoption difficult without strong policy or financial incentives. Additionally, industrial assets are capital-intensive costing hundreds of millions of dollars, and designed to operate for decades. This creates strong resistance to early retirement of existing systems. Any increase in production costs can erode competitiveness, further slowing adoption of low-carbon technologies.
Technology readiness levels
Clean heat technologies exist for many low and medium temperature processes but options for high-temperature applications remain limited and are often still in pilot phases. Some solutions, such as renewable natural gas or solar, are commercially deployable in certain contexts, while others require significant development before large-scale adoption is possible.
Supply chain risks
Scaling clean heat technologies depends on secure access to critical inputs such as biomass, rare minerals, and renewable energy resources. Competing demands across industries add further pressure, increasing both supply risks and cost volatility.
The Path Forward in Decarbonizing Industrial Heat
Industrial heating remains one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonize, responsible for around 10% of global CO₂ emissions. High capital costs, diverse process requirements, and limited availability of scalable clean heat technologies are barriers to achieving Net Zero goals.
Progress is being made as electrification, renewable fuels, and efficiency improvements begin to enter industrial operations. However, meaningful transformation will need strong collaboration between industry and utilities and continued innovation from Climate Tech startups developing clean heat solutions.
The pace of industrial heat decarbonization will play a decisive role in shaping the global energy transition. Companies that invest early in clean heat technologies will be better positioned to meet climate targets, manage costs, and maintain competitiveness in a low-carbon economy.
Decarbonizing industrial heating is complex but essential to achieve Net Zero goals. The urgency of this challenge highlights the need for accelerated Climate Tech innovation tailored to industrial processes.
Startups have a vital role to play, driving new solutions, scaling breakthroughs, and creating business models that can transform one of the hardest sectors to decarbonize.
Carefully planned investment will be critical to ensure capital is directed toward scalable solutions that make this transition possible.
