Across heavy industries, companies face increasing pressure from governments, investors and society to decarbonize. This common ground strongly encourages new collaboration between peers within and across industries, particularly to address common needs in terms of capability, energy, infrastructure and capital.

Figure 15: Collaboration model types between industry and cross-industry peers

The transition of heavy industries is a new and fast-changing domain in which deep expertise is scarce but critical. Collaboration with peers through knowledge sharing initiatives, either forward-looking (e.g. net zero roadmaps) or focused on existing technologies (e.g. methane management), or through upskilling/reskilling programmes for management and employees, can close a number of knowledge gaps while building the workforce of the future (Figure 15).

Heavy industry companies also typically require large amounts of capital to deploy their own or third-parties’ promising technology at scale. Collaboration with industry or cross-industry peers through shared commercial projects/ventures or cross-industry funding can bridge capital gaps, reduce risks and overcome financiers’ reluctance to invest in subeconomic or lower-return projects that are important to break new ground on the path to net zero.

Many solutions to decarbonize heavy industries involve the adoption of technologies184 based on electrification, low-emission hydrogen, low-emission power, or carbon capture, utilization and storage, all requiring extensive infrastructure. Collaboration with industry and cross-industry peers through shared infrastructure planning and development can ensure that companies deploying new technologies will not be constrained by the lack of enabling infrastructure.

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