50001 Ready: A Proven Platform for Decarbonization

Addressing climate change at scale will require rapid decarbonization of all sectors, including industrial. Recent years have seen manufacturers increasingly motivated to decarbonize their operations and supply chains, as demonstrated by many setting ambitious emissions-related commitments and/or targets. Starting in 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have partnered with experienced strategic energy management (SEM) consultants to train >480 participants from nearly 270 sites, across diverse geography, sizes, and sectors, on how to implement an ISO 50001-based energy management system. This effort has involved developing and deploying new resources, such as decarbonization guidance focused on Scope 1 and 2 emissions and a 50001-based Energy Management Assessment, as well as collecting in-depth data via pre-, mid-, and post-program participant surveys, pre- and post-program gap assessments, and coaching call trackers. Five manufacturer cohorts so far have specifically focused on decarbonization. This talk will present new research findings to date from these and other manufacturers participating in the 50001 Ready cohort program, emphasizing how they are leveraging 50001 to manage their decarbonization efforts. At a time when many utility efficiency programs are beginning to emphasize SEM as a pathway to decarbonization, this talk will highlight cohort successes, challenges, and other insights from the application of decarbonization-focused 50001 Ready SEM. Our experience with cohort program administration and data collection has demonstrated that 50001 Ready–focused decarbonization has proven to be effective for the manufacturing sector.