Nuberg Energy’s AK Tyagi On Decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors In India

Decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors is now a question of industrial leadership, not just climate intent. For fertilizers, refining and manufacturing, the real test is whether companies can cut emissions without compromising reliability, scale or competitiveness.

The scale of the challenge:

For years, these sectors were treated as the most difficult part of the transition because their carbon footprint is built into the process itself. That remains true. But what has changed is the urgency. Carbon is now a financial variable, a supply-chain variable and increasingly a market-access variable. In that environment, the companies that wait for a perfect solution risk falling behind those that build a practical one.

The scale of the challenge is substantial. IRENA estimates that hard-to-abate sectors such as chemicals and petrochemicals account for around one-quarter of global energy consumption and about one-fifth of total CO2 emissions. The International Energy Agency notes that ammonia contributes about 1.3% of energy-system CO2 emissions, with nearly 70% used for fertilizers. These numbers underline a critical reality: decarbonizing these sectors is not peripheral, it is central to the industrial transition.

For India, the stakes are even higher. With rising industrial demand and export ambitions, the ability to produce low-carbon chemicals, fuels and materials will increasingly influence global competitiveness, particularly in markets where carbon border adjustments and disclosure norms are tightening.

Fertilizers: The HydrogenTest:

The fertilizer sector is a clear example. Ammonia is one of the most important industrial chemicals, yet conventional production relies heavily on fossil-derived hydrogen. This makes the sector both strategically essential and structurally carbon intensive.

If hydrogen remains grey, ammonia remains carbon heavy. If hydrogen turns green, the entire value chain begins to shift. Green ammonia, therefore, is not merely a cleaner alternative—it is a pathway to re-engineer the fertilizer industry around low-carbon feedstocks and renewable energy.

This transition also opens new opportunities in global trade, where green ammonia is emerging as both a low-carbon fertilizer input and a potential energy carrier.

Refining: The Retrofit Challenge:

Refining presents a different but equally complex challenge. Refineries depend on hydrogen for upgrading and desulfurization, while also requiring high-temperature heat and continuous utility systems. Emissions, therefore, arise from both combustion and process design.

In practice, the pathway is rarely singular. It involves a combination of energy efficiency improvements, heat integration, low-carbon hydrogen, electrification and carbon capture. Refineries cannot be transformed through declarations—they must be reconfigured in phases, each step preserving uptime, safety and commercial viability while progressively lowering carbon intensity.

Manufacturing as a mixed picture:

Manufacturing, particularly in energy-intensive segments, sits between these models. Some facilities can electrify portions of their thermal demand, while others require alternative fuels or process redesign.

The defining question is not what appears most advanced, but what integrates seamlessly without disrupting production economics. That is where many decarbonization strategies succeed or fail. The most effective approach is not the most fashionable, it is the one that works under real operating conditions.

A recent Nature perspective on deep decarbonization reinforces this reality, highlighting wide variations in technology readiness and deployment constraints across sectors and geographies. Transition pathways must therefore be tailored, not replicated. There is no universal blueprint—only context-specific strategies built around asset life, energy access, capital allocation and operational constraints.

Hydrogen as the Common Thread:

Hydrogen will remain the central enabler in this transition. In fertilizers, it directly determines ammonia’s carbon intensity. In refining, it supports critical upgrading processes. In manufacturing, it offers a pathway where electrification alone is insufficient. However, hydrogen is not a standalone solution. It must be integrated with renewable power, storage systems, compression infrastructure, process optimization and, where necessary, carbon capture. Industrial decarbonization is fundamentally a systems challenge—and systems challenges demand integrated engineering.

Execution is the differentiator:

Execution capability is as critical as technology choice. Large-scale industrial transitions succeed when engineering, procurement, integration and commissioning are aligned from the outset.

Brownfield transformation, in particular, is complex: assets are operational, capital is already deployed and downtime carries significant cost. Any credible decarbonization strategy must therefore balance technical robustness with commercial discipline and operational continuity.

This is where digital engineering, advanced simulation and phased modular deployment are beginning to play a crucial role in de-risking implementation.

This underscores the growing importance of experienced industrial EPC players. Companies with deep expertise in hydrogen systems, ammonia infrastructure and process integration will play a defining role in enabling the next phase of industrial transition. This is not about intent, it is about building the infrastructure that enables measurable change.

In this context, companies such as Nuberg Green Energy are playing a critical role in translating decarbonization strategies into implementable solutions on the ground. With integrated EPC capabilities, the company is actively enabling industrial transition across multiple fronts, ranging from green hydrogen production systems and electrolysis-based plants to downstream applications such as green ammonia, methanol and hydrogen mobility infrastructure.

Its approach is anchored in end-to-end execution, covering engineering design, technology integration, balance-of-plant systems and project delivery. This becomes particularly relevant in hard-to-abate sectors, where decarbonization is not about standalone technologies but about integrating hydrogen, renewable energy, storage and process systems into existing industrial frameworks.

In fertilizers, this translates into enabling green ammonia value chains by integrating electrolysers with nitrogen synthesis loops. In refining, it involves deploying low-carbon hydrogen solutions that can be retrofitted into existing units without disrupting operations. In manufacturing, the focus is on designing flexible systems that combine electrification, hydrogen and process optimization based on plant-specific requirements.

With over three decades of engineering experience and a growing global project footprint, such players are demonstrating that industrial decarbonization is not a distant ambition but an engineering problem that can be systematically executed today.

Hybrid pathways are already proving useful:

A recent 2024 study on refinery decarbonization highlights the value of hybrid configurations. A system combining conventional steam methane reforming with carbon capture and a smaller share of solar-based electrolysis achieved an 88% reduction in emissions compared to the SMR baseline.

The takeaway is not that one configuration fits all, but that hybrid approaches can deliver significant reductions while fully green systems scale up economically and operationally.

The industrial leaders of the next decade:

For business leaders, the message is clear. Decarbonization is no longer a peripheral CSR initiative, it is a core strategic imperative tied to capital allocation, asset design and long-term competitiveness.
It is also increasingly linked to investor expectations, supply-chain partnerships and access to global markets, making early action a strategic advantage rather than a compliance exercise.

The coming decade will reward companies that move decisively from intent to execution. Across fertilizers, refining and manufacturing, success will depend on combining technical realism with strategic ambition delivering cleaner molecules, smarter plants and lower-carbon production systems built for long-term resilience.

The industrial transition will not be led by those who articulate ambition the loudest, but by those who execute it most effectively.