## 4 Discussion and Conclusions
### Outlook  
The focus of the _IndustRiES_ study and this paper was a decarbonized energy supply for the industry. Process-related CO2 emissions were only considered in the _transition_ scenario for the _iron and steel_ sector. Nevertheless, such deep decarbonization is crucial to meet climate goals. The current government's goal for Austria is to be climate neutral by 2040 [2], which is ten years earlier than the current EU target. In this context, \"climate neutral\" means that greenhouse gas emissions from industry are completely or almost completely avoided and the residual emissions are offset by negative emissions. The technical solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the industry by 2030, currently under discussion in the EU fall short of the long-term goal of climate neutrality. According to the European Commission's Impact Assessment, emission reductions at European industrial sites over the next ten years are envisaged almost exclusively through efficiency-enhancing measures at conventional plants. Since industrial plants (e.g., kilns) often have long lifetimes (several decades), the industry should already invest in climate-neutral key technologies in the next upcoming investment cycles to achieve climate neutrality. This will require both leapfrog innovations and break-through technologies. Future research and assessment of industrial deep decarbonization is a key issue in the energy model region NEFI--New Energy for Industry [43], funded by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund. NEFI has the defined goal of significantly reducing CO2 emissions from industry, using up to 100% renewable energies and at the same time increasing competitiveness. The work, which has been presented here, builds a robust basis for the NEFI_Lab [44], where even more detailed paths for different decarbonization levels are developed. These paths will indicate which sector must implement what kind of technology in which timeframe to reach a certain level of decarbonization. Results are estimated to be published in the second half of 2021. As presented, the industrial sector holds a share of 27% of Austria's final energy consumption. Equally far-reaching efforts are needed to decarbonize the other sectors _transport_, _private households_, _public and private services_ and _agriculture_. The _transport_ sector, which is currently almost exclusively supplied by fossil energy sources, will pose a complex and demanding challenge. To reach these ambitious goals of decarbonization, the demand for electrical and biogenic energy sources will continue to increase as it was shown in the analysis of the industrial sector in this paper. This may lead to a \"competition\" for individual energy sources between the sectors. To solve this issue, it is important to consider exergy aspects, meaning high-grade energy sources should only be used for high exergy applications. Thus, not only future research for the industrial sector but also for other sectors and the overall system is of high importance and urgency. **Supplementary Materials:** Additional and more in-depth results of the _IndustRiES_ study can be accessed online at [[https://industries.ait.ac.at/](https://industries.ait.ac.at/)]([https://industries.ait.ac.at/](https://industries.ait.ac.at/)) [22]. This interactive web-application allows for further individual investigations for both historical and scenario data. **Author Contributions**: Conceptualization, R.G., S.K., C.D. and G.D.-S.; Methodology, R.G., S.K., C.D., G.D.-S. and V.A. ; Software, R.G., C.D. and V.A. ; Validation, R.G., S.K., C.D. and G.D.-S.; Formal analysis, R.G., S.K. and C.D. ; Investigation, R.G., S.K. and C.D. ; Resources, R.G., S.K. and C.D. ; Data curation, C.D. and V.A. ; Writing--original draft preparation, R.G., S.K., C.D. and G.D.-S.; Writing--review and editing, R.G., S.K., C.D., G.D.-S. and V.A. ; Visualization, R.G. ; Supervision, R.G. ; Project administration, R.G. ; Funding acquisition, R.G. and G.D.-S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.