JOURNAL: Navigating reconfiguration and systems disruption: Decarbonisation pathways for UK industrial clusters
Summary
Authors:
Kyle S. Herman
Benjamin K. Sovacool
Frank W. Geels
Marfuga Iskandarova
American University of Sharjah
Aarhus Universitet
Alliance Manchester Business School
University of Sussex Business School
Navigating reconfiguration and systems disruption: Decarbonisation pathways for UK industrial clusters
Energy
August 2025
Industrial decarbonisation is often assumed to follow a straightforward path, but this paper argues it is a contested process of wider system change, driven by both gradual adaptation and disruptive shifts that redraw the boundaries between sectors. Rather than treating these as separate routes, the authors show they are closely intertwined, offering a new “meta-system transformation” lens for understanding how decarbonisation reshapes industrial structures. Using the UK’s largest industrial clusters as a case study, the paper traces how changes to infrastructure, markets and governance unfold. While plant-level measures like fuel switching and electrification drive incremental change, shared hydrogen and CO2 networks create broader disruption, restructuring coordination between industries and forming new dependencies.
Associated Research
IDRIC – MIP 1.4 Smart policy and governance for industrial decarbonisation