CPRG Tools and Technical Resources – Industrial Sector

This webpage provides a list of tools and resources that support CPRG Planning Grantees meet the sector-based requirements for the Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) and Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP) if it includes the power sector as a priority sector. These requirements are laid out in the Program Guidance for States, Municipalities, and Air Pollution Control Agencies and Federally Recognized Tribes, Tribal Consortia, and U.S. Territories.

EPA and other federal organizations publish and maintain a variety of resources that grantees may leverage to meet these requirements, including Industrial Sector Emissions Data, Industrial Sector Emissions Quantification Tools, and on Understanding Industrial Sector Emission Reduction Opportunities. These resources are further described below.

Note: EPA does not require the usage of a specific dataset or tool, or the inclusion of any particular measure type. 

Visit the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory and Projections webpage for more information on GHG inventory and projections data, methods, tools, and resources.    

Where to get started?

The resources below broadly describe industrial sector GHG emissions and strategies to reduce them. They can help grantees begin to consider approaches to reducing emissions in their jurisdiction.  

• The ENERGY STAR Decarbonizing Industry webpage provides an overview of the main ways that industry can be decarbonized, including energy efficiency. For the PCAP and CCAP, this could help state, local, and tribal governments identify GHG reduction measures and opportunities to work with industrial facilities within their boundaries to reduce GHG.
• DOE’s Better Building’s Webinars on Demand provide background information and instruction on implementation for the Industrial Sector.
• EPA’s Quantified Climate Action Measures Directory presents information on the quantified greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction measures in state and local climate action plans published between January 2018 and August 2023. Grantees may use this tool to draw inspiration for PCAP and CCAP emissions reductions measures and understand how they were quantified by states, MSAs, and tribes of similar sizes, geographies, economic conditions, etc.
  • Access the State Quantified Measures Directory
  • Access the Local Quantified Measures Directory

Note: There are industrial sector training recordings and supplemental resources for CPRG Planning grantees located on the CPRG Technical Assistance Forum (TAF) Resource Library SharePoint site. If you are planning grantee, planning grantee partner, or TAF participant and would like access to the site, please contact [email protected]. 

Industrial Sector Emissions Data

This section can help equip grantees with critical information needed to meet PCAP and CCAP requirements. The emissions data resources below can help grantees identify emission reduction opportunities and build a solid data foundation for quantifying and assessing the impact of their GHG reduction measures.

• The EPA GHG Reporting Program (GHGRP) is a database of publicly available GHG data by facility, industry, location, or gas. States, cities, and other communities can use this data to compile facilities’ emissions, find high-emitting facilities in their area, and compare emissions between similar facilities. Annual GHGRP emissions data are also summarized in interactive fact sheets by state, tribal lands, or EPA region. It should be noted that a facility reporting to the GHGRP will only be including direct (Scope 1) emissions, not indirect GHG emissions associated with the purchase of electricity (Scope 2).
  • The Training and Testing Opportunities for GHG Reporting webpage links webinars and tutorials relating to GHGRP database use that grantees may find helpful.
• The EIA Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey (MECS) Data (2018) contains valuable data on energy use by industry and region. State, local, and tribal governments can use this resource as a reference to identify industry-specific energy use.

Industrial Sector Emissions Quantification Tools

The following resources provide tools for quantifying GHG emission reductions for the industrial sector. These tools can be used by states, local governments, Tribes, and territories to quantify GHG reduction measures in their PCAPs and CCAPs.

• The Non-CO2 GHG Mitigation Assessment Model provides projected emissions estimates and technical and economic mitigation estimates of non-CO2 GHGs from anthropogenic sources for all 50 states in the U.S. The tool allows users to filter by mitigation assessments or emissions, GHG, year, and national versus global to understand GHG projections and mitigation assessments.
  • The Non-CO2 Methodology Report guidance document provides methodology for the Non-CO2 GHG Mitigation Assessment Model.
• The Waste Reduction Model (WARM) is an Excel-based tool that estimates the potential GHG emissions, energy savings, and economic impacts of baseline and alternative waste management practices, including source reduction, recycling, combustion, composting, anaerobic digestion, and landfilling. The model calculates emissions, energy units, and economic factors across a wide range of material types commonly found in solid waste.

Understanding Industrial Sector Emission Reduction Opportunities

The resources below focus on areas of the industrial sector where opportunities for GHG emissions reductions might be found. The resources can help grantees refine emissions reduction strategies and select measures to implement their strategies in their PCAP and CCAP.   

Energy Efficiency Technologies and Practices

Employing energy efficient technologies and best practices is a critical step towards industrial decarbonization. These resources thus may support grantees in identifying emissions reduction measures related to energy efficiency for the PCAP and CCAP.

• The Incorporating Energy Efficiency/Renewable Energy in State and Tribal Implementation Plans is a primer on adoption of energy efficient technologies and practices in particular end-use sectors (or specific market segments within a sector). It covers education and outreach, financial incentives, and/or technical assistance. The definitions on this webpage, along with the trainings linked to the Air Pollution Training Institute may provide helpful information on energy efficiency GHG reduction measures.
• ENERGY STAR’s Industrial Energy Management Information Center includes links to training and guides for industrial plants so grantees can understand how industrial facilities can reduce GHG emissions through energy efficiency. A subset of these resources can be used to support Strategic Energy Management programs.
• The DOE's Workshops and Webinars Library offers a wide range of training content for the industrial sector, including on the opportunities and challenges of addressing energy efficiency in manufacturing plants and other industrial spaces.

Renewable and Clean Energy

Employing renewable and clean energy sources is a critical step towards industrial decarbonization. These resources can help grantees to identify emissions reduction measures for the PCAP and CCAP.

• EPA’s Green Power Partnership Toolbox for Renewable Energy Project Development identifies economic and administrative barriers in the deployment of on-site renewable energy projects. This Toolbox examines six key issues that have important implications for developing on-site solar projects.

Voluntary Methane Reductions from Oil and Natural Gas Operations

Since 1993, EPA has partnered with oil and natural gas operators to encourage the identification and implementation of technologies and practices to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. In 2022, at a time of unprecedented action on oil and gas methane emissions in the US, EPA transitioned the Natural Gas STAR Program to end the formal partnership while retaining the information-sharing aspects of the program. EPA continues to partner with oil and gas operators through the Methane Challenge Partnership.

• Though the Methane Challenge Program, oil and natural gas partner companies transparently report systematic and comprehensive actions to reduce methane emissions and are publicly recognized as leaders in reducing methane emissions in the U.S. Reducing methane emissions reduces operational risk, increases efficiency, and demonstrates company concern for the environment, with benefits spanning from climate change to air quality improvements to conservation of a non-renewable energy resource.
  • Past Methane Challenge Webinars as well as resources on various mitigation technologies in the oil and natural gas industry are available on the Methane Mitigation Platform.

Material and Water Efficiency and Supply Chain Emissions

Municipal governments have authority and responsibility for transportation, waste management, and energy and water efficiency, all of which affect GHG emissions and associated co-pollutants. These resources thus may support grantees in developing GHG inventories and determining GHG reduction measures.

• The Industrial Water Savings Network is a tracking database and industry network. It convenes commercial, public, industrial, and multifamily sectors to work with the U.S. DOE to share successful water efficiency solutions and progress, network with peers, receive technical assistance, and more. This resource also includes a guidance document with insights from leading manufacturers on developing or improving corporate water management programs.
• The Plant Water Profiler tool (PWPEx) Tool is an Excel-based tool that helps break down the total plant water intake, wastewater disposal, and “true cost “of water by individual systems in the plant. Thus, it helps management identify systems that contribute the most toward source water intake versus “true cost” and enables efforts to prioritize water efficiency measures.
  • DOE Webinars and Presentations support users to identify water solutions and best practices.
• The Sustainable Management of Industrial Non-Hazardous Secondary Materials webpage provides an overview on the beneficial use of industrial non-hazardous secondary materials (secondary materials), a key part of EPA's Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) effort. The appropriate beneficial use of secondary materials can advance the goals of EPA’s SMM program, which emphasizes a materials management approach that aims to reduce impacts to human health and the environment associated with materials over their entire life cycle (e.g., extraction, manufacture, distribution, use, disposal). Through SMM, EPA is helping change the way our society protects the environment and conserves resources for future generations.
  • The Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Web Academy series is a free resource that grantees can use to learn more about SMM principles from experts in the field. From these webinars, you can learn about key issues, successful projects and a variety of best management practices for creating stellar materials and waste management programs.
• What is Embodied Carbon? is an EPA website with an overview of the embodied GHG emissions in construction materials extraction, production, transport, and manufacturing and key products and initiatives to reduce embodied carbon.
• The Example Government Climate Action Plans that Address Materials Management and Waste is a tool for users to search for publicly available state, tribal and local government Climate Action Plans such as materials management actions. Grantees may find it useful to see other agencies’ Climate Action Plans, especially for reducing embodied carbon in the built environment.