Manufacturing is a driving force of the Michigan economy: approximately 600,000 Michiganders are employed in manufacturing jobs, and the state was the seventh-largest exporter of goods in the nation in 2024. The industrial sector is also a significant source of climate pollution, comprising 13% of Michigan’s total emissions. To meet the climate and health targets mandated by the Michigan Healthy Climate Plan while maintaining the state’s manufacturing might, policymakers must work to reduce emissions from its industrial sector in a way that allows businesses to stay regionally and globally competitive.

Many of Michigan’s industrial emissions come from burning natural gas in low and medium temperature ranges for which low-emissions technologies like industrial heat pumps, electric boilers, and thermal energy storage have already proven viable. The actions contained in this report can help Michigan policymakers ease the transition to clean manufacturing and production methods as these next-generation technologies continue down the cost curve and continue to improve in performance.

In this roadmap, we focus on solutions that are technologically and commercially ready and fall into three main categories: energy efficiency, electrification, and geothermal heat. Despite the technological maturity of many of these technologies, nearly every facility in Michigan remains reliant on natural gas to fuel its operations. Where facilities consider adopting lower-emissions equipment, a series of informational interviews (explored more deeply in the report) surfaced barriers, including technology integration, equipment financing, and system-level capabilities.

There is no silver bullet to overcome these barriers, so the state should consider its funding resources, administrative capacity, and input from industrials to unlock the greatest emissions reduction potential. In concert, a number of these strategies (depicted below) can be powerful levers to change Michigan’s industrial emissions landscape and drive private investment in clean technology.