Renewable energy and decarbonization in European industry

Bożena Gajdzik, Radosław Wolniak and Rafał Nagaj

Chapter 3 in Decarbonizing European Industries, 2026, pp 41-54 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter examines the application of renewable energy toward the decarbonization of European industry or, as is particularly the case today with regard to the utilization of renewable energy, how it achieves carbon reduction, and problems associated with its widescale use. The chapter briefly summarizes the major renewable sources—solar, wind, hydropower, biomass, and green hydrogen—and their expanding proportion of industry energy consumption. It also covers the fall of European manufacturing CO2 emissions over past decades due to policy measures such as the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and replacing fossil fuels with cleaner options. But all the advances that have so far been achieved are still subject to some of the challenges involved in utilizing renewable energy, such as the substantial initial investment capital costs, issues of energy intermittence, infrastructural grid capacity limitations, and regulatory barriers.

Keywords: Renewable energy; Decarbonization; Energy transition; Solar power; Wind energy; Hydropower; Carbon neutrality; European Green Deal; Energy policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035371914
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