
Heavy Industry and Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions: What Does the Future Hold?
Industry accounts for nearly half the world's CO2 emissions, and heavy industry, steel, aluminum, and cement, produces the biggest share of that. This film follows engineer Mohammad Safi, who bikes to work and heats his home with solar power and a heat pump, then contrasts his personal footprint with that of his employer, steel giant ArcelorMittal, whose German plants emit more than 30 million tons of CO2 a year. Cameras show ArcelorMittal testing a blast-furnace-free production method that could cut emissions by two thirds, and visit EGA's aluminum plant in Dubai, which currently draws as much power as all of London and is shifting to what will be the world's largest solar park. At Dresden's Technical University, researchers demonstrate concrete reinforced with carbon fiber instead of steel rebar, a lighter, less material-intensive alternative now being trialed on an actual construction site. Interviews with engineers and plant operators anchor the question running through all three industries: whether retrofitting exists fast enough to matter.