We know our clients want and need to be future-proof – a key part of this is helping them accelerate their decarbonization efforts with confidence. To support this ambition, we’re committed to upskilling Arcadians and sharing knowledge in this critical area across our global network. This School is one example, alongside our worldwide collaborations with universities and partners. By bridging the gap between the latest innovations and real-life applications, our diverse teams and expertise help clients turn ambition into action.
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Globally, industrial leaders are facing a shared inflection point. The urgency to decarbonize is no longer theoretical. Pressure from regulators, shareholders and markets is converging. The industrial sector is responsible for nearly a quarter of global emissions, with subsectors like steel alone contributing up to 9%. The industry is being asked to do something it’s never done before: reduce carbon at speed and scale, without compromising operational continuity or competitiveness.
However, decarbonizing is not a simple task or should be looked at as a challenge. It’s an opportunity - one that requires more than a single solution. Achieving meaningful progress presents a layered systems challenge that cuts across technologies, geographies, sectors and supply chains. The hard-to-abate nature of industrial activity means that meaningful progress requires more than point solutions. It demands integration.
How do we accelerate real, resilient decarbonization at scale?
Transforming how the world produces, processes and powers its materials is essential. That belief is what brought nearly 30 Arcadis professionals and external collaborators to New York for the Industrial Decarbonization School, hosted by our Energy Transition Academy and powered by the Lovinklaan Foundation.
We came together to explore one core question: How can we leverage our global expertise to deliver locally adaptive, industry-leading decarbonization solutions for our clients?
With that in mind, we focused on identifying market needs and Arcadis’ strongest areas of impact, deepening our understanding of our diverse end-to-end offerings, prioritizing the skills and capabilities needed to accelerate growth and shaping a strategy with actionable steps to drive delivery and results. Have a look at some of the key insights and reflections.
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From Conversation to Coalition: What We Heard
The discussions focused on five key solutions - Energy Transition, Sustainable Advisory, Smart Sustainable Buildings, Advanced Industrial Facilities and New Mobility – and three hard-to-abate sectors: Industrial Manufacturing, Energy and Resources and Technology (including data centers and semiconductors).
The conversations combined global insights with local applications to drive meaningful outcomes. Real-world examples were used to guide discussions and shape actionable plans. The dialogue also addressed the complexities involved in C-suite decision-making.
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Despite the many differences, a few key themes emerged:
1. Circularity and resource efficiency are climbing the priority list, not just for carbon savings and emissions reductions, but to ensure long-term resilience in supply chains and production models.
2. Low-energy design principles and diversification of energy sources (including waste heat recovery, electrification, and green hydrogen) are becoming real strategies, not just roadmaps, moving from pilot to portfolio.
3. Energy reuse and heat recovery are gaining serious traction, particularly in high-energy, high-waste sectors. Projects that focus on reusing or recycling residual industrial heat show the potential of industrial byproducts as community assets.
4. Access to capital and the need for strong, finance-backed value propositions are the make-or-break factors in project adoption, especially in high-CAPEX environments.
5. Digital and data maturity continue to lag behind ambition, largely across the industry. Without trustworthy data on emissions baselines and ROI models, decarbonization remains stuck in the planning phase.
6. Carbon capture is also becoming a more prominent feature of decarbonization portfolios, particularly in hard-to-abate industrial subsectors like cement and steel. Its role in helping clients reach net zero targets, when paired with electrification and energy efficiency, is increasingly gaining importance.
7. And finally: integration beats invention. Clients are not looking for the next moonshot. They’re looking for partners who can connect what’s already working, across strategy, operations and delivery.
Alongside the technical strategies discussed, one insight that resonated strongly across the cohort was the cultural dimension of decarbonization. Lasting progress requires a paradigm shift - from fragility to resilience, and ultimately toward anti-fragility. That means designing programs that can adapt and evolve under stress, while building conviction right from the C-suite to the factory floor. It’s about embedding transformation in decision-making, not just engineering.
The underlying message was clear: effective decarbonization strategies must be both ambitious and financially sound, supported with the right mindset shift to successfully drive lasting solutions across the whole spectrum - from facility-level retrofits into enterprise-level transformation.
An Actionable Way Forward
The market is undoubtedly shifting. Industrial decarbonization is no longer seen as an isolated environmental, social and governance (ESG) goal; it’s fast becoming a condition for capital, a lever for operational resilience and a cornerstone of competitive advantage. It’s also increasingly interwoven with other transformation drivers: circularity, electrification, energy storage and climate risk disclosure – and the requirement across all for future proof skills.
Despite the growing momentum, many strategies and processes for addressing client challenges remain siloed. For example, one team may focus on modeling emissions, another on scoping energy retrofits, and yet another on designing for future fuels. Meanwhile, our clients’ needs are straightforward and holistic: to turn ambition into action with confidence and continuity.
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At Arcadis, we take a global, connected approach to delivering decarbonization - minimizing inefficiencies and ensuring clients receive the right end-to-end solutions, tailored to their needs. The Industrial Decarbonization School reinforced the value of this approach and highlighted opportunities to strengthen it further – by continuing to connect across regions and sectors, align capabilities, and deliver transformative solutions that are financially credible, digitally enabled and resilient by design.
This global mindset is particularly important as industrial decarbonization must navigate cross-geographical challenges - ranging from regulatory differences to energy grid disparities. With many of our clients operating internationally, Arcadis is focused on streamlining how we deliver consistent, locally adapted solutions across markets. A cohesive global/local approach can drive efficiency gains while also giving clients the confidence that transformation can scale seamlessly, wherever they operate.
One clear differentiator that emerged is Arcadis’ ability to meet industrial clients wherever they are on their decarbonization journey. Some are mapping their emissions, while others are piloting net-zero facilities or implementing site-wide energy optimization systems. Our lifecycle approach ensures adaptability – whether clients need digital tools, regulatory strategies, asset design or implementation support, we tailor our solutions to their specific needs.
So, what does a more actionable way forward look like?
Here are three critical steps:
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1. Ground decisions in real data.
Clients can’t manage what they don’t measure. Accurate emissions baselines, energy use profiles, and facility-level data are essential to building credible roadmaps. Tools like Enterprise Decision Analytics (EDA) and Net Zero Catalyst help convert data complexity into actionable clarity.
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2. Focus on integrated solutions with clear ROI.
Fragmented efforts don’t deliver lasting change. The most effective projects, like industrial heat reuse systems or site-wide energy optimization, link emissions reduction with cost savings and operational resilience. A prime example is Arcadis' collaboration with Terra Ventures on a near net-zero data center in San Jose, California. Powered by a self-sufficient microgrid, the facility eliminates backup generators and uses waste heat from fuel cells to power absorption chillers, cutting cooling energy demand by up to 70%. It also repurposes CO₂ and H₂O byproducts to support an onsite greenhouse that supplies fresh produce for local sale. This integrated design reduces emissions, improves efficiency and creates measurable community and economic value.
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3. Embed transformation across teams and partners.
Industrial decarbonization isn’t a side initiative - it’s a business-wide cultural shift. From executive sponsorship to facility-level know-how, success depends on alignment and upskilling. Through our Energy Transition Academy and key industry partnerships, we help organizations build lasting capability and delivery scale.
What’s Next: Upskilling, Alignment, and Action
A key outcome of the school was a shared understanding of industry strengths and capability gaps. As a leading partner in transforming industrial decarbonization, Arcadis is committed to continually advancing its expertise to meet evolving industry needs through the Arcadis Energy Transition Academy.
From our work with Heineken to reduce emissions at brewery sites, to our involvement in net zero data centers and low-carbon semiconductor facilities, to joint industrial decarbonization delivery models with CoolPlanet, we’re already enabling progress. More importantly, we know how to scale progress across portfolios and sectors, with a strong, viable business case.
This isn’t just a strategic priority. It’s a shared responsibility.
For us, it’s not about doing more - it’s about doing differently. We are committed to connecting the pieces - from data to delivery - to drive meaningful change, together with our clients and partners.
