From fossil to green: Driving the de-carbonization of energy-intensive industries

Abstract

Since 1990, global CO2 emissions have risen by nearly 50%, with energy-intensive industries playing a major role in this upward trend. In response, the 2015 Paris Agreement mobilized international efforts to limit global warming to a maximum of 2°C, preferably to 1.5°C. This has spurred ambitious climate policies worldwide. At the European level, the Green Deal and the “Fit for 55” package set binding goals: climate neutrality by 2050 and at least a 55% reduction in emissions by 2030. These targets place significant pressure on heavy industries such as steel, cement, chemicals, and refining to fundamentally transform their operations. These sectors are not only responsible for a large share of global emissions, but also face unique challenges in de-carbonization due to their reliance on fossil fuels, high-temperature processes, and capital-intensive infrastructure. While technological solutions like electrification, carbon capture, and green hydrogen are being developed, their successful deployment requires more than innovation alone. It demands deep changes in how these industries are organized, operated, and maintained on a day-to-day basis.
Among these sectors, steelmaking is especially critical, both for its economic importance and its high carbon footprint. This thesis examines how such a transformation can unfold in practice by focusing on a leading case: Tata Steel IJmuiden. While much public and academic attention is given to breakthrough technologies and national policies, this research shifts focus to the practical dimension of transition. Specifically, it explores how de-carbonization strategies are translated into organizational routines, systems, and responsibilities at the micro plant level while considering the meso- and macro- contextual factors in which the transition takes place. Using Tata Steel’s Green Steel plan as a case study, the research investigates what Operations & Maintenance shifts are needed to ensure that de-carbonization efforts are not only technologically possible but also organizationally sustainable and safe.
To address this, the study poses the following main research question:
“How can large energy-intensive industries transition towards de-carbonization in practice?"
Although the main research question focuses on large energy-intensive industries in general, all sub-questions specifically examine Tata Steel IJmuiden as the case on which the results are based:
Sub-question 1: “What does the de-carbonization strategy of the Tata Steel plant in IJmuiden entail?"
Sub-question 2: "What contextual factors influence Tata Steel’s de-carbonization strategy, and how do they shape the feasibility and implementation of this transformation?"
Sub-question 3: “How do stakeholders organize and strategize Operations & Maintenance in Tata Steel’s de-carbonized production process?”
Sub-question 4: "What changes in Operations & Maintenance are required to support Tata Steel’s de-carbonization transition?"
To explore these questions, the study used a qualitative narrative case study design, combining a literature review with semi-structured expert interviews and thematic analysis through a hybrid coding approach. Data was triangulated across academic sources, technical documentation, and first-hand perspectives from within the organization. In addition, expert knowledge synthesis and integration played a role in the analysis of the data. This involved synthesizing the tacit, experience-based insights of academic and industry supervisors into the interpretive process through reflective dialogue and supervision. Furthermore, the case was studied through a strategy-as-practice lens, which allowed close attention to how strategic transformation unfolds through everyday operational decisions and practices.
The case study research revealed that Tata Steel’s de-carbonization strategy is centered around the substitution of old technologies by phasing out blast furnaces and introducing hydrogen-based Direct Reducation Plant (DRP) and Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) technologies. The strategy consists of two phases: by 2030, one DRP and EAF unit will be installed, allowing the shutdown of a major blast furnace and coking plant, and by 2037, a second unit will complete the transition. This transformation at the micro plant level, expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 8.8 million tonnes annually, is deeply influenced by meso- and macro-level conditions such as the availability and cost of green hydrogen and electricity, regulatory frameworks, financial support, spatial constraints, and environmental requirements. These meso and macro drivers significantly shape the technical, operational, and organizational design of the transition.
The study highlights that O&M is not a passive function supporting technology change, but a core enabler that ensures the new green infrastructure operates reliably, safely, and efficiently. In the future hydrogen-based plant, O&M practices will be built around Reliability Availability Maintainability Safety Health Environment (RAMSHE) principles. Time- and condition-based maintenance will replace legacy routines, and a closer integration between \ac{om} teams will be required, especially as systems are less automated and more reliant on real-time human interventions. Safety becomes a dominant concern, particularly with the introduction of hydrogen. New protocols, extensive retraining, and strict oversight through specialized hydrogen safety bodies will be necessary. The study also outlines key organizational changes, including new partnerships with OEM, a new hydrogen committee, restructured maintenance contracts, and an expanded role for digital asset management systems to accommodate tens of thousands of new equipment components. A shift in operator roles, from passive monitoring to active process control, marks a major transformation in how labor is structured, trained, and managed.
Importantly, the analysis shows that industrial transformation cannot proceed through isolated or linear actions. Instead, it depends on the careful coordination of multiple interdependent strategies. Substitution of old technologies, while not a de-carbonization strategy in itself, plays a critical enabling role. By reshaping the technical, operational, and digital foundations of the industrial system, it allows for the integration of other low-carbon pathways such as hydrogen use, electrification, and carbon capture. In doing so, it initiates a series of ripple effects across organizational domains, triggering new safety risks, operational routines, skill demands, and digital infrastructures that must be actively managed through adapted O&M.
In sum, the thesis identifies three pillars essential to the success of this de-carbonization transition in practice: (1) technical adaptation and digitalization to accommodate new technologies, (2) workforce safety and competency transformation to operate and maintain high-risk systems, and (3) organizational restructuring and stakeholder integration to align the complexity of the transition across internal and external actors. These findings suggest that achieving climate neutrality in heavy industry is not only a matter of technological readiness but also of deep operational transformation. By examining the steel industry’s transition at the plant level through a narrative case study, this research offers insights that can guide other energy-intensive sectors pursuing similar de-carbonization strategies. It highlights that success depends not only on what technologies are adopted but on how Operations & Maintenance adapt to make those technologies work, safely, reliably, and sustainably. Future experiments in industrial de-carbonization would benefit from early integration of O&M considerations into the planning and implementation of green transitions.