Henry Igugu
Henry Igugu, Ph.D.
Henry Igugu
Henry Igugu, Ph.D.

Henry Igugu, Ph.D., is a researcher and educator with expertise in building energy performance and sustainability. His work involves systems optimization in buildings for efficiency and competency development in green design. At Project Drawdown, he focuses on assessing climate solutions in the building sector. Previously, Henry served as a lecturer at the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa, as a consultant with the World Bank Group, and as a visiting international researcher at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Henry earned his doctorate in architecture from the Tshwane University of Technology, where he explored the impact of practitioners, simulation practices, and industry challenges on discrepancies between expected and actual energy performance of buildings. 

Project Drawdown launches Drawdown Explorer, the world’s most comprehensive climate solutions platform

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This will empower decision-makers around the world to advance emergency brake solutions that can rapidly reduce emissions, focus on geographic hotspots to maximize impact, and identify benefit multipliers that simultaneously improve both human and environmental well-being. 

Moreover, the open-access online platform offers specific recommendations on how various actors, including policymakers, investors, business leaders, and more, can best unlock and accelerate solutions given their unique resources and capabilities. To make these recommendations more actionable, all of the underlying data, methodologies, visualizations, and interactive maps are freely available and downloadable. 

“Drawdown Explorer is an essential tool for nonprofits and philanthropy, offering clear, science-based guidance about where to prioritize efforts,” says Aimee Witteman, Chief Impact Officer at the Urban Land Institute. “Moreover, it’s launching at a time when government data and climate science are under threat. It ensures decision-makers from the nonprofit, public, and private sectors have trusted, accessible insights to direct their capacity and investments towards the most effective climate solutions.”

When fully completed in 2026, the Drawdown Explorer will provide detailed, up-to-date information on more than 140 climate solutions that, if scaled, can stop climate change. All of the solutions are regularly updated as better data become available.


Press Contact
Skylar Knight, skylar.knight@drawdown.org 
Interviews and Drawdown Explorer demos available upon request


Select Quotes About the Drawdown Explorer

“The Drawdown Explorer is an incredibly useful tool for anyone seeking to learn what they can do to help solve the climate crisis. Carefully based on the best data and science, it shows which actions can make the most difference, but also which widely-promoted actions don’t help much or even make climate change worse. The results may surprise you. More than that, the deep geographical and sectoral detail in Drawdown Explorer helps you learn where actions can have the most impact, and in which sectors of the economy, so whether you are in government, business, or an individual, you can see where you can make the most difference.”
 — John Sterman, Ph.D., Director, MIT System Dynamics Group
 

“The Drawdown Explorer provides comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date information on the most important climate solutions. It is an invaluable resource for individuals, businesses, and donors who want to make a real difference in helping to address climate change and its impact on people and the environment.”
 — Walt Reid, Ph.D., Climate and Sustainable Development Advisor

About Project Drawdown
Project Drawdown is the world’s leading guide to science-based climate solutions. Our mission is to drive meaningful climate action around the world. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Project Drawdown is funded by individual and institutional donations.

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The Drawdown Explorer provides actionable intelligence for the most effective science-based climate solutions

Stopping the climate crisis requires more than a passive list of solutions, which is why today, Project Drawdown is launching its most ground-breaking development ever: Drawdown Explorer. Built upon trillions of data points and thousands of hours of analysis by scientific experts from around the world, the Drawdown Explorer is the ultimate climate solutions platform, providing decision-makers with key insights and actionable localized intelligence on the most effective climate solutions – and highlighting powerful opportunities for scaling them globally.

“Climate action to date has been largely too small and too ineffective,” Project Drawdown Executive Director Jonathan Foley, Ph.D., says. “We need to focus on the most effective, science-based solutions that truly move the needle on climate change. We built the Drawdown Explorer to provide the insights necessary for better, smarter climate action, ensuring every dollar, every resource, and every moment brings us closer to a world without a climate crisis.” 

The Drawdown Explorer moves beyond just scale and cost to include detailed analysis on the speed of action, geography, and additional benefits of climate solutions across all relevant sectors, including: electricity; transportation; buildings; industry; materials and waste; energy processing; land use, food, and agriculture; oceans; and carbon removal. 

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The Drawdown Explorer provides actionable intelligence for the most effective science-based climate solutions
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Improve District Heating: Industry

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Sector
Industry, Materials & Waste
Mode
Cut Emissions
Cluster
Shift Energy Sources
Image
A district heating facility
Coming Soon
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Summary

Improving district heating for industry involves using low-carbon alternatives, such as biomass, electric boilers, heat pumps, and waste heat from other industries, to provide heat to industries for their operations. Currently, most district heating for industry relies heavily on fossil fuels to generate heat. Low-carbon alternatives have the potential to make a significant dent in the global emissions from industry, but such projects are also challenging to implement due to their scale and complexity, and there is currently a lack of publicly available data that would allow for a deeper analysis. Based on our assessment, we will “Keep Watching” this potential solution.

Description for Social and Search
Improving district heating for industry by integrating low-carbon heat sources has the potential to significantly reduce the use of fossil fuels.
Overview

What is our assessment?

Based on our analysis, improving district heating for industry by integrating low-carbon heat sources has the potential to significantly reduce the use of fossil fuels and the emissions they generate. However, the lack of data, combined with the complexity of such projects and the growing interest in alternative decarbonization pathways, makes this a potential solution to “Keep Watching.”

Plausible Could it work? Yes
Ready Is it ready? Yes
Evidence Are there data to evaluate it? No
Effective Does it consistently work? Yes
Impact Is it big enough to matter? Yes
Risk Is it risky or harmful? No
Cost Is it cheap? No

What is it?

District heating systems consist of a network of underground pipes that distribute heat to a large number of buildings, including industrial buildings. In the industrial sector, district heating is used by light industries and for processes such as drying, paper making, food processing, as well as space heating and even heat-driven chillers for refrigeration. Industry is well-suited to district heating because it typically has steady and predictable heat demand throughout the year. Current district heating systems rely heavily on coal and natural gas for heat generation, often as part of combined heat and power generation. Low-carbon alternatives for district heating can include burning biomass, electric heat pumps, solar thermal, deep geothermal, and even waste heat from other industries. 

Does it work?

Shifting district heating for industry from conventional heat sources to low-carbon heat sources will significantly reduce emissions. Our analysis for district heating use by commercial and residential buildings shows that significant emissions can be avoided by shifting to electric boilers, heat pumps, biomass boilers, and the use of waste heat (see Improve District Heating: Buildings). Similar outcomes are likely possible for industrial district heating use, and emissions reductions will increase as more renewables are integrated into the electricity systems used to power electric boilers and heat pumps. 

Why are we excited?

District heating for industry currently produces significant emissions. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), district heating for all applications accounted for 4% of global emissions in 2022, and roughly 40% of the heat energy from district heating was delivered to industry. China is a major adopter of district heating for industries, with the combustion of coal supplying much of that heat. The shift to renewable heat sources is likely to increase because both China and the EU have policies targeting the adoption of renewables in district heating. Because district heating systems serve multiple buildings, a single project to replace fossil fuels with renewables can have a large impact. Such projects also have the benefit of reducing local air pollution. 

Why are we concerned?

Although simple on paper, replacing fossil fuel systems with lower-carbon alternatives in district heating systems can be an extended undertaking involving many stakeholders and years of planning. Some low-carbon options may not be suitable for industrial processes that require higher temperatures than those needed for space heating. There is also a significant lack of publicly available data about how industry currently uses district heating and the opportunities and challenges involved in shifting to renewables. In the meantime, industrial heat pumps with higher temperature outputs (100–200°C) are increasingly available and could become a low-carbon competitor to the use of a conventional district heating system.

Solution in Action

Bellevrat, E., & West, K. (2018). Clean and efficient heat for industry. IEA. Link to source: https://www.iea.org/commentaries/clean-and-efficient-heat-for-industry  

Difs, K., Danestig, M., & Trygg, L. (2009). Increased use of district heating in industrial processes – Impacts on heat load duration. Applied Energy, 86(11), 2327–2334. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.03.011  

European Commission. (2022). Implementing the repower EU action plan: Investment needs, hydrogen accelerator and achieving the bio-methane targets. Link to source: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52022SC0230  

Gouy, A., Mooney, E., & Voswinkel, F. (2023). Light Industry. IEA. Link to source: https://www.iea.org/energy-system/industry/light-industry  

IEA. (2025). District heating. Link to source: https://www.iea.org/energy-system/buildings/district-heating#programmes  

IRENA, IEA, & REN21. (2020). Renewable energy policies in a time of transition: Heating and cooling. Link to source: https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2020/Nov/IRENA_IEA_REN21_Policies_Heating_Cooling_2020.pdf  

Lake, A., Rezaie, B., & Beyerlein, S. (2017). Review of district heating and cooling systems for a sustainable future. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 67, 417–425. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.09.061  

Werner, S. (2017). International review of district heating and cooling. Energy, 137, 617–631. Link to source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.04.045  

Credits

Lead Fellow

  • Heather McDiarmid, Ph.D.

Internal Reviewers

  • Christina Swanson, Ph.D.
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Action Word
Improve
Solution Title
District Heating: Industry
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