5 Ways for Manufacturing Sector to reduce its carbon emissions

Blog by Purvish Shah, Lavanya Pawar
Published on July 15, 2023

Manufacturing sector alone accounts for over one-third of global emissions, emitting nearly 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2e. Key industries in this sector includes Steel, Cement, Chemicals, Pulp and Paper, Aluminium, and other industries.

A first step towards reducing the carbon footprint of the manufacturing industry is understanding the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF), which measures the total greenhouse gas emissions generated by a product. It is not only customers that are increasingly looking for brands that act on a clear purpose-driven message, but also investors’ interest is constantly rising.

And while focusing on net-zero will generate a positive long-term impact on your company’s financial success, it will also contribute to the conservation of natural resources, and prepare you for further tightening of carbon emissions regulations that can be expected in the near future.

#1 Measure Environmental Impact

As the saying goes, you cannot manage what you cannot measure. In order to reduce your environmental footprint, the first step is to take stock of your absolute emissions. Following methodology proposed by GHG Protocol, calculating Scope 1-3 emissions is the first step. After measuring, actively analysis key contributors to your emissions is very important. This gives you insights and opportunity areas for intervention. Enterprise may also go a step beyong to analyse the emissions in their value chain for identifying hotspots. CarboLedger enables seamless data collection and analysis to help your company save time and costs in this jounrney

#2 Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

When strategizing the product development, enterprises need to have a vision for optimising the value chain and production processes. This approach helps to reduce the carbon emissions by avoiding purchase of additional goods and services required for manufacturing. This approach is also called as Circular Economy approach and many companies have taken a step foward to also bring aspects of re-manufacture and refurbish making it a 5R process (Repair, reuse, refurbish, re-manufacture and Recycle)

#3 Innovative Materials

Development of new manufacturing processses to enable production of products with low carbon footprint requires innvovation and R&D. Searching for alternative materials, replacing any resource-intensive or hazardous items is the key.

#4 Preventive Maintenance for High Efficiency

Investing in long-lasting machine parts will decrease the need to replace them and result in lower waste generation. Conducting regular Maintenance of equipment and manufacturing processes prevents energy leaks. This also has direct effect on energy costs and helps to achieve opeational excellence

#5 Modern Technologies for Analytics

Advanced data analytics techniques allows industries to increase productivity level of factories and create a positive impact on the environment. Biggest impact of such application is in resource utilisation and optimisation that reduces the levels of energy consumption.

Developing and implementing effective measures to reduce emissions in manufacturing industry is a journey. Individual enterprises need to start taking action with best intent in mind to contribute positively to the environment and reduce their footprints.