Industrious Labs
Climate Transformation Fund • United States
Decarbonizing heavy industries
Industrious Labs is an organisation dedicated to decarbonising heavy industry, with a specific focus on the aluminium, cement, steel and waste sectors. Their global cement campaign is centred around advocating for a shift from carbon-intensive Portland cement to existing, low-carbon technologies that can significantly reduce emissions in this sector. Whereas, their aluminium campaign aims to decarbonise the U.S. primary aluminium industry, leading to a substantial reduction in its CO₂ footprint. Industrious Labs prioritises four interconnected approaches to reducing emissions: advocacy campaigns, data and analysis, movement building, and strategic communications.
Decarbonisation
There is a need to support efforts that can reduce emissions. Change is not happening fast enough on its own. A high-impact way of accelerating emission reductions is by supporting effective organizations influencing decision-makers to implement more ambitious climate policies. Another way is to support innovation in new fossil-free energy solutions in cases where market forces are not providing the necessary funds.
Enabling environment
Projects that shape policies, regulatory frameworks, and engage stakeholders to drive systemic change. These efforts create the conditions needed for clean energy and decarbonisation.
Decarbonisation
Namibia
PyroCCS pioneers sustainable industrial biochar carbon removal in the Global South, deploying its own low-cost, robust, pyrolysis systems powered by renewable energy and backed by a digital measurement and reporting solution. These plants efficiently convert invasive acacia bushes in Namibia, a significant threat to the savanna ecosystem, into high-quality biochar, while providing critical employment in regions with high youth unemployment rates. PyroCCS's scalable technology, which they are also offering as a solution to other project developers, not only captures carbon but also supports local agricultural and environmental recovery as well as food security.
Decarbonisation
South Africa
CHAI will work on the high impact project of transitioning a portfolio of hospitals in South Africa's Western Cape Province to renewable energy. This could be a high impact measure that is currently not occurring due to the limited capacity of the department of health and because of bureaucratic hurdles to innovative financial and energy contracts. The project has the potential to reduce emissions by hundreds of thousands of tons, and leverages CHAI's extensive experience in health sector procurement and innovative finance.
Decarbonisation
Tanzania
This project develops a mobile app for regreening techniques like Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). The app delivers real-time, location-specific advice directly to farmers' phones. This approach reduces intervention costs by eliminating the need for in-person visits to every location. We already support Justdiggit’s regular work since 2021, and now added this project because it builds on proven FMNR methods, increasing cost-efficiency and potential for rapid scaling in dry landscapes.