Decarbonisation of manufacturing operations: a case study in automotive manufacturing

Journal article, 2025

In response to the climate crisis, companies are increasingly committed to lowering their emissions. Previous studies have investigated climate mitigation strategies in carbon-intensive industries. However, emissions from less carbon-intensive sectors must also be addressed to reach net-zero goals. This study focuses on manufacturing operations and proposes a three-step approach to initiate industrial decarbonisation activities. Technological solutions across six strategies were investigated: fuel shift, electrification, carbon capture, process efficiency, technology substitution, and circularity. An in-depth case study at a multinational automotive manufacturing company was conducted with 16 semi-structured interviews to qualitatively evaluate technological solutions, highlighting implementation challenges from the case company’s perspective. While there is no universal set of priorities for decarbonisation, the proposed three-step approach can help companies organise their decarbonisation activities more effectively. Finally, we suggest further work to tackle current and emerging challenges potentially hindering decarbonisation efforts in less carbon-intensive sectors.