Accenture – Powered for Change Report

Accenture's Powered for Change Report highlights the need to accelerate decarbonization in heavy industry, which includes steel, metals and mining, cement, chemicals, and freight and logistics. These industries are crucial as they provide products and services that feed into the supply chains of many others. However, their emissions also contribute to the emissions of their customers. If heavy industry fails to decarbonize, it will have a cascading effect on all other industries. To address this problem, the report proposes three imperatives that stakeholders must pursue over the next three years. The first imperative is to target green premiums, which means charging higher prices for sustainable products and services to finance the initial phase of industrial decarbonization. The second imperative is to accelerate the scaling of low-carbon power and hydrogen to ensure a secure and affordable supply. The third imperative is to drive down the capital and operating expenses of low-carbon infrastructure. While these imperatives alone will not achieve net zero, they will lay the foundation for a transition to a net-zero economy. The report emphasizes the need for collective action and provides recommendations for various industries, including oil, gas, power providers, heavy industry, and light industry. The report is based on a global survey of 1,000 executives, qualitative interviews with 18 executives and middle managers, and techno-economic modeling. Accenture's S-curve analysis, which quantifies cost drivers across the industrial value chain, was used to assess the cost and technology development of eight critical solutions for achieving net-zero goals. The next three years are crucial for heavy industry's long-term future and the success of net-zero initiatives. By working together and taking specific actions, industries can create the confidence needed to unlock investment and innovation and bring down costs.