Request for Information: Transforming Industry: Strategies for Decarbonization | DE FOA 0003363

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003363

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), through its Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO), released a Request for Information (RFI) titled "Transforming Industry: Strategies for Decarbonization" (Funding Opportunity Number DE-FOA-0003363). This notice is not a grant competition and it is not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). No awards are expected and DOE is not accepting applications. Instead, DOE is collecting written input from the public to shape a new vision study called "Pathways for U.S. Industrial Transformations: Unlocking American Innovation," which is aimed at identifying practical, cost-effective, industry-specific ways for the U.S. industrial sector to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while maintaining a strong, competitive industrial base.

The RFI is designed to gather real-world perspectives on what will make industrial decarbonization succeed or stall, and it explicitly seeks information that spans more than just technology. DOE is asking stakeholders to weigh in on technological options and readiness, financing and investment barriers, workforce and social considerations, environmental and health impacts, and other factors that influence whether decarbonization pathways can be deployed at scale. The overall goal is to understand challenges, opportunities, and credible pathways across the industrial landscape, and then use that information to build a structured, evidence-based roadmap for industrial transformation.

DOE is requesting input across four main categories. Category 1 focuses on industrial decarbonization challenges, barriers, and cross-cutting strategies, which can include issues that affect many industries at once (for example, infrastructure constraints, supply chain bottlenecks, permitting, standards, grid readiness, fuel availability, or cost and risk hurdles). Category 2 asks for feedback on what a solid framework for industrial decarbonization pathways should look like, essentially how DOE should structure and compare different pathway options so that they are consistent, transparent, and useful for decision-makers. Category 3 centers on impacts and evaluation criteria, meaning what metrics should be used to judge pathways beyond emissions reductions, such as cost, timelines, technical risk, community impacts, environmental performance, health outcomes, reliability, job impacts, and broader economic competitiveness. Category 4 drills down into net-zero pathways for specific industrial subsectors, encouraging detailed, subsector-level input that reflects the very different processes, energy needs, and decarbonization levers across industries (for example, heat-intensive manufacturing, chemicals, refining, metals, cement, pulp and paper, food processing, and other major industrial segments).

IEDO is looking for responses from a wide range of participants, not only large industrial companies. The RFI emphasizes the importance of perspectives from stakeholders who will be directly involved in or affected by industrial change, including communities connected to industrial facilities, utilities, suppliers of low-carbon fuels, technology developers, engineering and project-development firms, organizations designing or retrofitting facilities, and local or regional governments. The broad outreach reflects an understanding that industrial decarbonization is not just a plant-level engineering challenge; it is also a system-level transition that depends on energy systems, fuel markets, local impacts, financing structures, and coordinated planning.

Responses must be submitted electronically by email to Transforming-Industry@ee.doe.gov with the subject line "Transforming Industry RFI." DOE will not accept paper submissions. The deadline reflected in the notice includes a modification (MOD0001) that extends the due date to 5:00 pm Eastern Time on June 24, 2024 (the original due date was 5:00 pm Eastern Time on June 10, 2024). The opportunity is listed under the DOE Golden Field Office, the opportunity category is discretionary, the funding instrument type is listed as "Other," eligibility is unrestricted, and the CFDA number provided is 81.087.

• The Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Request for Information: Transforming Industry: Strategies for Decarbonization" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.087.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-05-14.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-06-24. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

Apply for DE FOA 0003363

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: