The American steel industry is at a crossroads. Here are ten key policies that can drive it toward a clean energy future.

Decarbonizing Industry Resource Tool (DIRT)

Get the DIRT on industrial decarbonization incentives

In 2021, heavy industry and transport, which include cement, steel, aluminum, chemicals and aviation, shipping, and trucking, made up 23% of U.S. GHG emissions and 30% of global emissions. Holding global temperatures below 1.5C requires building hundreds of net-zero industrial projects by 2030. However, these projects face many risks to decarbonization: stacked investment risks, high technology costs, unclear offtake demand, and steep workforce learning curves. In recent years, state and federal governments have focused greater attention on accelerating these projects. This has resulted in tax credits, grant programs, loan opportunities, and other incentives that reduce investment risk, accelerate technology maturity, increase the supply and demand for low- and no-carbon solutions, and prepare the future workforce.

Holding global temperatures below 1.5C requires building hundreds of net-zero industrial projects by 2030. The goal of this tool is to provide project developers, industrial companies, and interested stakeholders a way to identify the financial incentives that may be available to their projects. Using the filters below, you can narrow down incentive options by industrial sector, type of incentive, location, and other features. Follow the provided links to read more about each program and to apply.

Tool Scope:

The goal of the Decarbonizing Industry Resource Tool (DIRT) is to help project developers, industrial companies, and investors discover the state and federal financial incentives that may be applicable to their heavy industry and transport projects. This iteration of the tool captures incentives at the federal level and at the state level in ten key states:

  • California
  • Texas
  • Louisiana
  • Georgia
  • North Carolina
  • Pennsylvania
  • Michigan
  • Illinois
  • Arizona
  • Ohio

It focuses on the cement, steel, aluminum, trucking, shipping, aviation, hydrogen, chemicals, and battery (for industrial uses) sectors. Only financial incentives were considered for this tool. Fees, fines, and other ‘negative’ financial policies were omitted. Using the filters below, you can narrow down incentive options by industrial sector, type of incentive, location, and other features. Follow the provided links to read more about each program and to apply.

Disclaimer:

The tool is provided with the understanding that RMI is not herein engaged in rendering professional advice or services, and no content is intended to serve as investment, legal, tax, accounting, or other regulated advice. You shall remain solely responsible for your use of the tool and acknowledge that any reliance upon the tool shall be entirely at your sole option and risk.  Before pursuing any of these incentives, please consult with an appropriate advisor to ensure that any given incentive applies to your project. This tool introduces the key features of these incentives, but many of them have detailed eligibility details that cannot all be covered here. If you download data from this tool, please note that the download might miss important updates to the tool and data. Although RMI is actively maintaining and updating the tool, all content is being provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind as to the ownership, accuracy, or adequacy of the content. Please reach out to Taylor Krause (tkrause@rmi.org) and Jane Sadler (jsadler@rmi.org) for more information, or if you have suggestions for policies to include or additional feedback.

This tool was developed with support from the Mission Possible Partnership and Bezos Earth Fund.

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