New reports: Industry's role in addressing climate change

A new study by the World Wildlife Fund examines the need for US industries to undergo a fundamental transformation to decrease carbon emissions to necessary levels. According to the executive summary:

This report models the ability of low-carbon industries to grow and transform within a market economy. It finds that runaway climate change is almost inevitable without specific action to implement low-carbon re-industrialisation over the next five years. The point of no return is estimated to be 2014.

While WWF focuses on the need for the industrial sector to address climate change before the point of no return, a separate report by the Presidential Climate Action Project gives several important government recommendations for addressing industrial decarbonization.

Efficiency, as expected, plays a huge role in these recommendations. Among the recommendations are the bolstering of two critical DOE programs: Industries of the Future, and Industrial Assessment Centers. ACEEE has been advocating for these programs for many years, and we expect that they will certainly play a key role in addressing climate change in the industrial sector.