U.S. DOE Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office Stakeholders’ Workshop: Decarbonization Challenges and Priorities across the U.S. Food and Beverage Industry

DOE IEDO’s Food and Beverage Industry Workshop was held in-person on August 31, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The workshop brought together stakeholders from industry, trade associations, utilities, academia, government, national labs, and research institutions to identify key challenges, priorities, and opportunities for the decarbonization of key U.S. Food and Beverage manufacturing segments. The workshop program began with a series of presentations from DOE leaders providing an overview of the Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO) program, and each of the Energy and Emissions Intensive Industries (EEII), Cross-Sector Technologies (CST), and Technical Assistance and Workforce Development (TAWD) subprograms. The DOE Decarbonization Roadmap has been presented to provide the audience with the DOE’s vision and opportunities across the industrial spectrum. Following this, two emerging topics related to future of proteins and the global food traceability have been presented to conclude the plenary session.

The second half of the workshop consisted of six group breakout sessions focused on identifying the top technology priorities for decarbonization for the following key Food & Beverage segments: (1) Proteins, (2) Grains and Oilseeds, (3) Baking and Snacks, (4) Dairy Products, (5) Fruits and Vegetables, and (6) Beverages, Sugar and Confectionary, and Tobacco Products. Select breakout sessions were kicked off by industry stakeholders’ presentations connected to DOE’s broad decarbonization goals relevant to session-specific topic. Following the breakout sessions, all attendees reconvened at the end of the workshop where each breakout group reported out on the main outputs related to decarbonization priorities, challenges, and barriers discussed.

The publications for this workshop include the detailed workshop agenda, pre-read material, and select presentations from both the plenary and breakout sessions of the workshop, which include the following:

Agenda and Pre-Read

• IEDO Food and Beverage Workshop Agenda and Pre-Read

Plenary

Breakout Sessions