Texas Gulf Coast Clean Industrial Hub

Texas is forecasted to produce 50 percent of the clean hydrogen that will be made in the United States by 2050. We developed value chain economic analyses for hydrogen, green ammonia, green methanol, and SAF supply chains to help companies advance proposed clean hydrogen projects. We also evaluated power procurement risks and challenges for a hypothetical green hydrogen project in Texas and proposed policy and market-based paths forward to enable green hydrogen projects in the state.

Texas’ legacy of refining presents an opportunity to produce SAF and other low-carbon fuels. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) can reduce aviation emissions by between 70 and 90 percent relative to conventional jet fuel. We analyzed how different SAF production pathways including HEFA (hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids) and PtL (power-to-liquids), could help two companies reduce carbon intensity of their finished SAF product. Additionally, we conducted a pioneering study to evaluate the willingness-to-pay and determine a green premium for SAF and SAF Certificates. This will help SAF project developers build up financial models that speed up site selections and final investment decision.

Green shipping and zero-emissions ports are essential for reducing pollution from international marine transport and goods movement. We convened stakeholders to evaluate the feasibility of a green shipping corridor between Houston and Rotterdam. Additionally, we produced a supply-demand outlook and a regulatory outlook for the supply market (United States) and demand market (European Union) for e-methanol. Through this work, we created marginal abatement cost curves for offtake agreements, where energy producers and shipping customers agree on pricing structures and timelines for buying clean shipping fuels.

Just 11 cement plants in Texas emitted more than 8 million MTCO₂e in 2023. Low-emissions and net-zero cement and concrete are essential for decarbonizing existing industry in Texas. We developed an integrated site decarbonization framework utilizing three key levers: alternative fuels, supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), and carbon capture and storage (CCS), to help a cement plant produce net-zero emissions cement and concrete.

Investments in near-zero steel can revitalize industry in Texas. We showed a company how they could cost competitively produce using green hydrogen to reduce emissions.

Policy support and public funding are critical to enabling industrial decarbonization. We created the Decarbonizing Industry Resource Tool (DIRT) to help project developers, industrial companies, and investors discover the state and federal financial incentives that may apply to their industry and heavy transport projects. We also mapped how companies secure permits for constructing clean industrial projects and identified solutions to commonly occurring permitting roadblocks.

Getting access to private capital is critical to bring clean industrial projects from planning phase to final investment decision (FID), and ultimately to construction. In Texas, we convened financial institutions and project finance experts to identify solutions to barriers to reaching FID for hydrogen and SAF We developed the Industrial Decarbonization Investor database which catalogues more than 200 institutions that have expressed interest in and/or finalized transactions related to industrial decarbonization.

Midstream infrastructure — including electric transmission lines, hydrogen pipelines, and energy storage — is essential for clean energy to reach industrial facilities. Texas’ vast network of existing infrastructure presents an opportunity for accelerating the energy transition. We defined infrastructure requirements for the transport of clean energy materials within the US Gulf Coast and for export to European markets.

Electrification and energy efficiency can reduce industrial emissions in Texas by 60 percent. We analyzed future decarbonization pathways for heavy industry and the impacts on the electric grid from industrial electrification.

Equitable and inclusive two-way community engagement is essential in decarbonization efforts by clean energy and infrastructure project developers. We created practical frameworks and tools to help project developers and community organizations collaborate on Community Benefits Plans and streamline permitting while ensuring local communities share in the project’s value. We created the S.A.M. (Stakeholder Analysis and Mapping) tool to support effective stakeholder management for inclusive, two-way community engagement and responsive benefits.