New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
What does net zero need to know?
21/1/2026
10 min read
Feature
In 2025, a number of overviews (‘Frontiers Reports’) of key findings on industrial decarbonisation research commissioned by the UK Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) were published. In anticipation of IDRIC’s Director, Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer OBE, speaking at International Energy Week on 10 February 2026, below are edited excerpts from the organisation’s new output Research and Innovation Agenda for Net Zero Industries (‘R&I Agenda’). The R&I Agenda complements government-led frameworks and strategies, such as the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy.
Drawing on IDRIC’s extensive documented conversations with its stakeholders – including industry professionals, policymakers and academics – between 2021 and 2025, the R&I Agenda synthesises and consolidates collective and actionable insights on the key research and innovation needs, barriers and priorities that must be addressed to accelerate progress towards net zero, with critical action required by 2030 and continued advancement through to 2050. Bringing together perspectives from across industrial clusters and dispersed sites, as well as from academia, government and civil society, the R&I Agenda reflects the complex interplay of technological, environmental, economic, regulatory and social factors shaping industrial decarbonisation pathways.
The excerpts below are drawn from the technology-focused sections of IDRIC’s wider R&I Agenda. The document as a whole also addresses funding and delivery mechanisms, skills and workforce transition, environmental sustainability, and social and economic dimensions of industrial decarbonisation, emphasising that successful industrial decarbonisation depends on early and sustained engagement with workers, communities, local authorities and regulators. Social licence, workforce transition and environmental trade-offs are identified as critical delivery considerations. Integrating these factors into project design and decision-making can reduce risk, build trust and accelerate deployment.
Technology challenges
A number of barriers and constraints hinder progress in technical innovation and deployment needed to decarbonise. These should be read as prompts signalling where new evidence, solutions or approaches are most urgently required.