Sustainable Low-Carbon Production: From Strategy to Reality

Abstract

The present paper approaches the timely topic of sustainable production with low carbon emissions, investigating the link between existing strategies and policies and the reality that manufacturers must deal with, with the appraisal going from high-level national and international plans to specific firm needs. This is in line with the preoccupations of manufacturers in Europe to retain and regain their market shares under strict environmental excellence, one of the defining features of the continent’s economy. The existing strategies, specialized plans and mechanisms for the reduction of emissions were analyzed to discern their structural relationships and the clarity and palpability of their content when passing through the successive levels of interest. The research methodology employs the MEAL Plan for determining the state of the art, and based on the findings, two specific tools were used for policy analysis and informing a brainstorming and discussion session aimed at future improvements. The instruments used are SWOT-Radar Screen methodology and latent semantic analysis as implemented by the Tropes Zoom software. Structural connections were revealed, together with an improved understanding of the interventions proposed in 5 European-level strategies, 14 national-level strategies (with a focus on Romania) and a case analysis for a generic manufacturing company. Among the main findings, the authors propose improved awareness development for all the stakeholders, strengthened and correlated monitoring of sustainability results and a better implementation of an institutional ecosystem for providing support to companies. The results obtained are intended for the use of policy makers to improve their future planning cycles in a way that supports the companies in achieving these societal goals.

1. Introduction

The global fight against climate change is one of the most important contemporary challenges for humanity, and it requires the diligent and constant contribution of the entire society and economy to yield the expected results in due time, before irreversible changes occur within our natural environment. The effort is led by the United Nations [1], and the European Union [2,3] is one of the most active supra-national bodies involved in drafting strategies and preparing plans and actions to determine and support the changes that must be made by the citizens in their everyday life and by the companies in the conception of their business models, supply chains, and products and services. The production sector, which contributes significantly to the CO₂ emissions, must therefore be an active player in diminishing the carbon footprint through new practices and solutions that address the processes it uses and the products it generates [3,4].

The current paper is focused on helping to close the gap that currently exists between the strategic level and the operational one, across the structural layers that make up the landscape in which manufacturing companies operate on a daily basis in order to become more sustainable. In the case of Romania, where this study was performed, the transformations that a production company must undergo in order to align itself with the low-carbon economy paradigm (which translated to low-carbon processes, products and materials) must consider the European-level orientations, the national master plans and the sectoral implications to obtain measurable results, receive support and maintain market share. In many cases, this is not an easy task, and the focus on competitiveness prevents the companies either from starting the change or from truly ripping the benefits.

This paper proposes a structured methodology to “cut across” these political and organizational lines and to deliver actionable insights that can be implemented by manufacturing firms. For this purpose, a research and intervention methodology is proposed, based on an updated literature review and a combination of robust analysis instruments used in the field of decision-making sciences. The main research question to be answered is: “How can decision makers develop better and more easily implementable strategies in the field of sustainable low-carbon production that respond to the needs of the economic environment?” We answer this question by advancing a customized research and assessment methodology and developing a set of proposals for improved policy development in the field.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Analysis of Policies and Strategies for the Goals of the Low-Carbon Transition

The global goal refers to reducing emissions and mitigating climate change, an objective that currently requires the development and timely implementation of strategies and policies. An adequate policy mix in the field is based on three important elements: emission cots schemes, ambitious new regulations and measures to ensure the correct distribution of efforts and benefits [5]. By achieving this, we can identify the relationships between existing policies and the necessary improvements. Within them, solutions can be proposed by the interested parties and at the same time, transparency of the data is offered. In this context, it is especially desirable to promote the development of sustainability-based approaches [6].

There is a discrepancy between the main target assumed by the United Nations/European Union and what exists today in our economies, meaning that global emissions are not in line with the target of “net zero” until 2050 [5]. This goal, based on the European Green Deal, needs a hierarchy of interlocking policies in order to become a reality. A complete treatment of the problems, at all levels, is essential, and the involvement of all stakeholders is needed to reduce emissions [7]. At the present time, this European strategy is seen as a new set of political measures that specifically intends to fulfill social objectives, such as the creation of new jobs and achieving equitable economic development from the perspective of renewable energy use and resource efficiency [8].

When mentioning the concept of environmental sustainability, we must consider reducing emissions to zero. The specialized studies reveal the obstacles in this major domain of application and the changes needed for the development of regulatory policies. One method that accomplishes this is the Best-Worst Method, where several Indian companies were analyzed along with other actors involved [9]. After the analysis, a basic conclusion is reached, namely that there must be an increased interest in the environment and that the field of production requires major transformations through the implementation of specific and applicable policies [9]. In relation to this field, it can also be mentioned that the analysis must be reviewed from the point of view of the manufacturing processes that account for 18% of the total global carbon emissions [10]. The impact these emissions have on the environment must be reduced by implementing new production processes with new and sustainable technologies through two important steps, namely, determining a model of carbon emissions of the process analyzed and measuring the effect they have on the environment vis-a-vis the resources used [10].

The reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remains the main topic of debate, but to achieve the transformation, it is necessary for people and companies to also understand the problem of coal and oil that must remain unextracted, even if it is technically and economically feasible to extract them. Attention must be directed to the link between the price of fossil fuels and that of carbon emission certificates, which are unstable, making the proposed measures difficult for the involved parties to adopt [11].

The impact that emissions can have on companies’ output can be devastating if they are not controlled. This problem can develop internally in the company and can even lead to the closure of the business, so it is necessary to periodically estimate the circumstances related to the environment [12]. However, a permanent assessment of carbon emissions and their correct estimation must be made by all countries of the world, even if expert studies show that, globally, policy actions to reduce emissions are rather small [13]. Due to the economic differences and the governance policies of countries, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement tried to find political compromise proposals to reduce emissions, but concluded that regardless of whether they are applied, there will still be a major deviation from the goals because of the different directions of each country [13].

Based on the COP26 in Glasgow, a topical study presents the effect of countries’ measures in comparison with the Paris Agreement commitments. New sets of proposals and initiatives were established following the meeting, and if all of these were respected and implemented, the effect of global emissions would decrease and help reduce the projected temperature gap to 2 degrees Celsius [14]. Emphasis is placed by this work on the energy field, which is still the largest producer of carbon emissions, and an important increase in investments is recommended, while countries that have not implemented the established measures are urged to do so in the future [14].

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the next important factor is increasing the price of carbon certificates and setting a fair price, in addition to a massive reduction in coal and gas use [15]. The political framework provides the condition for increasing carbon emission prices in order to ensure that the population accepts the situation, because if governments provide no clear picture, citizens tend to be skeptical about environmental issues, especially when politicians’ proposals do not match their ideological tendencies [16]. Consumers remain the most important actor that can significantly contribute to the identification of optimal and applicable solutions for policies and strategies, and this is why a carbon tax is preferred, with a proper monitoring mechanism on how it is spent [17]. One of the countries that places great emphasis on increasing the price of carbon emissions and that offers considerable incentives is the Netherlands. Despite the ambitious commitments it assumes, there are also problems that arise, such as the inequality of carbon prices between different companies and sectors [18].

Even if there has been an upward trend lately regarding the awareness of the population on issues related to climate change and everything that is part of environmental aspects, the political factor remains the one that introduces the most significant imbalance [19]. The process of change is slow due to the policies that regulate the economic process within certain industries, but implementing new timelines and innovative reforms in policy development can reduce the costs of addressing climate change [19].

One of the most significant and successful international legal instruments supporting the global goal of climate change mitigation and reduction is the Kyoto Protocol. The analysis of 161 countries [20] showed an increased interest in protecting the environment and achieving a just society, including limiting environmentally cost-intensive outsourcing business models. Alas, progress in this area depends on the achievement of a close partnership between countries at the international level [20].

Another large-scale topic is pollution and waste. Creating international alliances is vital to our planet, as is the signing of international environmental agreements [21]. There are two such agreements that provide a positive outlook on this, namely the Rotterdam Convention and the Stockholm Convention; their basic objective is to reduce the production and trade that uses environmentally harmful solutions, especially in the field of transportation, specific to countries that are still developing economies [21].

2.2. Analysis of Measures and Results from Low-Carbon Transition Deployment

The level of industrial transformation in certain regions where outsourcing can bring about negative or positive effects on carbon emissions must be monitored [22]. As presented in the specialized literature, it appears that some companies change their location to diminish local emissions, while increasing them in others, which makes the international correlation of efforts necessary [22]. When discussing the transition to a low-carbon economy, a vital factor in achieving it readily is upgrading and investing in hardware technologies for companies [23]. The sooner this happens, the more the hosting community will be able to overcome barriers in an easy manner by employing local policies to raise public awareness and leveraging the learning effects associated with it [23].

Based on the current published literature, the level of performance of the policy instruments applied for the transition to low carbon emissions can be identified through detailed research focused on five essential questions [24]. The first four refer to the important characteristics of the instruments currently used for this transition, and the last question refers to the mix of policies and the problems faced by the market. After the analysis, the authors concluded that there are problems regarding the application and use of carbon pricing instruments, as well as problems regarding technological innovation where immediate interventions are required [24]. Another study also analyzes the different phases of the transition to reduced carbon emissions in the energy system in the period 2016–2045, as this is the largest producer of emissions globally. The analysis is based on several transition scenarios, and in the end, it can be observed that the energy system needs considerable improvements and support from the government through new strategies and policies [25].

When discussing environmental policies, we must understand that these are essential in reducing emissions, as well as in developing sustainability. Green energy adoption stimulation, along with these policies, requires innovation and refurbishment [26]. There is a contradiction regarding the fact that a modern environmental policy has both a positive influence on emissions, reducing them, and a negative influence, increasing them, as new technologies spread beyond the initial beneficiaries [26].

Generally, environmental policies have a positive impact in the case of long-term strategies, as in Finland. An important factor in this approach has been found to be the support of the government, which in many cases is lacking, thereby harming the development of long-term plans [27]. Finland is a country that places great emphasis on the environment and is constantly adapting to the challenges by implementing and applying new policies that are adopted through a large consultation and consensus-making process [27]. Long-term orientation is the key to successful environmental initiatives, as well as to economic growth. Environmental performance yields better results for the countries with long-term goals, and the sooner this approach is publicly known, the more these countries will have the opportunity to notice an improving trend [28]. The problem of time can be partially solved by modifying the manufacturing process and its technology, and by improving work routines, but there is a need for strategizing digitization and sustainable production to meet climate change and emission mitigation goals [29].

A key goal of environmental policies is to reduce carbon emissions. Analysis performed on this aspect reveals asymmetric trajectories depending on the severity of emission policies for countries such as China, the USA, India, Russia and Japan [30]. There is a high interest in remedying the factors that affect the environment, but too drastic—as well as too lax—measures can have negative effects on companies [30]. Energy consumption remains the most important factor that affects the environment, and is difficult to limit; thus, alternatives must be found based on new techniques and technologies to consume renewable energy in order to reduce climate change [31]. Some authors consider that this is possible while also protecting natural resources, even though in Europe, there exists an eco-efficiency differential among the Western and Eastern zones [32].

Maintaining a green economy is an important goal, especially for international environmental policies, and strategic documents show an increased interest in this model and in stimulating the development of green technologies and investments [33]. The change trend in this field is on an ascending slope, with the world becoming more and more aware of the natural disasters that the planet is facing as a consequence of environmental damage brought about by the economy [33]. In mitigating climate change, one of the problems is related to common planning, even though international cooperation is present through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) [34]. The problem could be solved by ambitious revitalization and the involvement of all stakeholders on a large scale, as well as by developing remedial strategies and alternative policy mixes, especially on energy [34]. Specialized studies present specific data on international cooperation in the USA and China, which are the most important contributors to pollution, as well as the countries where most research articles have been published about reducing it [35]. The progress of some of the countries that are still developing is currently slow and requires solid commitment, with the Paris Agreement having some positive direction in this respect [36].

At the same time, for these collaborations to be a success, the distance of the technological capacities between the countries must be reduced and the common efforts should be focused on protecting the environment [37]. When there is open communication between countries and they share their experiences and ideas regarding environmental protection technology, there are favorable results [37]. The connection created in this way can be significantly improved through the coherent involvement of governments, which can have a positive impact within their borders and through international cooperation [38]. As production companies are connected mostly to urban areas, a detailed analysis of 25 cities concerning urban policies to support health and longevity shows the deficiencies of measures applied within these policies and the obstacles that are encountered [39]. Regarding pollution (and carbon emissions behave similarly), there is an immediate need to implement sound policies to be supported by government institutions at the local, national and international level [39].

3. Materials and Methods

The methodology proposed in this paper has five main steps: literature and strategic document collection in the area of sustainable and low-carbon production, structural analysis on successive complexity layers, content analysis to determine the most adequate measures for implementation in the production sector, discussions of possible intervention directions, and their deployment (see Figure 1).

The first section, documentary research, included the collection and review of specialized literature (presented in the previous chapter) and the determination of relevant European and national strategies for enabling sustainability in the production sector. For this purpose, a set of 35 articles was selected from the ScienceDirect and Google Scholar databases, using the keywords “sustainable production” and “low-carbon production”, combined with the keywords “strategy” and “policy”, within a time horizon of the past 5 years, from 2018 to 2023. The choice of keywords was made to reflect the larger concept of “production” vs. the more technical “manufacturing”, and the more encompassing “strategy” and “policy” vs. the more legal term “regulation”. This is because the research was focused on obtaining a correlated analysis of academic and professional documents in phase 3 of the methodology presented above.

The review was performed using the MEAL Plan (Main idea, Evidence, Analysis and Link), as detailed in Section 2 above and centralized in Figure 2 below, showcases a gap between “what is intended” and “what is achieved”. The main idea of developing concrete plans based on strategic intention was divided into two parts: an analysis of the literature discussing the ways in which strategies and policies for sustainable low-carbon production (SLCP) are developed and promoted, and an analysis of the literature discussing the measures implemented and assessing their impact. In each case, we isolated the presented evidence and conclusions and performed a cursory structural analysis on its components, connected with our main goal.

In the second step, the tool known as SWOT–Radar Screen [40] was used to perform the structural analysis of strategic document sets in order to understand their connections and discords on three levels: European, national and organizational, taking into consideration the relevant applicable policy landscape for each.

The third step in the methodology is based on content analysis, which is implemented with the help of the Tropes Zoom software for latent semantic analysis (LSA). It was applied on 14 national-level documents, the most visible layer, in order to determine the sustainability challenges for the manufacturing companies, and on the 35 articles mentioned in order to determine sustainability support directions. The final section is dedicated to the discussion of the application conditions needed for the successful deployment of proposals. The methodology we propose is a customized one, and it is intended to support both an evaluation and an improvement of the current situation.

4. Results and Discussion

4.1. SWOT-Radar Screen Analysis

The analysis of strategies for stimulating production with low carbon emissions was carried out using the SWOT-RS method. It refers to the classic strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, but each of them is analyzed on three interconnected levels: system, subsystem and supersystem.

4.1.1. SWOT-RS at International Strategy Level

The first analysis (

Table 1. Level of supra-system (international strategies).

Present		Future
Advantages. -> S: Strengths	Disadvantages. ->W: Weaknesses	Advantages. ->O: Opportunities	Disadvantages. ->T: Threats
People are open to accepting carbon neutrality Most people want to contribute to decarbonization Climate change and energy policies support “net zero” transition	Low company involvement Products and solutions are not yet available The goal of decarbonization has not been completely adopted in the public opinion	New job opportunities in the green industries Authorities are pushing for adoption and implementation	International political support can easily change The relationship between climate and weather takes a long time to be absorbed
Strong stakeholder alliances with the NGO sector	High pollution levels besides carbon emissions	Creation of global networks to support decarbonization	Extreme climate change is already here
Increasing level of environmental ambitions overall Express desire for more involvement and concrete decisions	Waste quantities are very high (e.g., food, packaging) Not all economic sectors are equally affected and involved	Reducing health costs of citizens due to a better environment Reducing expenses with food, utilities, energy, etc.	Limited understanding of the relation between economic development and climate change in the industry
Stimulation of sustainable economic growth Acceleration of the transition to clean energy Increasing spending for specific climate issues	Limited resources (e.g., financial, human, know-how) Different priorities depending on the level of development of countries Social cohesion varies among countries	Climate-based competitive advantages Developing new value chains, expanding others Improving the strategic resilience of Europe’s industrial supply chains	Economic issues (e.g., inflation, crises) Unstable geopolitical situation Legacy decision-making processes at the European level
Elimination of coal-fired and other fossil fuel power plants De-pollution of energy-intensive industries Investments in the circular economy, green economy, bioeconomy, etc.	Carbon emissions from other sectors are not focused upon (e.g., agriculture, construction, etc.) Continued use of fossil fuels, especially in transport	Accelerating the transition towards a “net zero” economy Development of advanced CCS technologies	Effects of carbon emission from outside the EU Long-term (over a century) observation of the results of current measures
Increased coherence and adoption of European strategies in all member states Development of the EU ETS and institutional support Environmental protection is at the core of the EU’s mission	Few controls are implemented with the strategies and constraint mechanisms are incompletely defined Competing strategies addressing similar topics	Ambitious targets for 2030 and 2050 New and stricter regulations concerning some sectors (e.g., vehicles, air travel) Participation in COP and other global decision bodies and events	Lack of involvement of certain countries Slow progress in many environmental directions Different approaches to economic development depending on living standards

) included the five principal European/global strategies identified (Kyoto Protocol [41], Paris Agreement [1], European Green Deal [2], Next Generation EU Recovery Plan [42] and “Fit for 55” [3]), together with 14 national-level strategies, distributed as follows: Austria—3, Bosnia and Herzegovina—2, Croatia—5, Germany—2, Republic of Moldova—1, Serbia—3. The key provisions of these documents are analyzed following the structure of the SWOT-RS method [40] in the parallel columns of Table 1, revealing possible challenges and improvement opportunities.

4.1.2. SWOT-RS at National Strategy Level

Then, at the national level, in Romania, where the study was performed (

Table 2. Level of system (national strategies).

Present		Future
Advantages. -> S: Strengths	Disadvantages. ->W: Weaknesses	Advantages. ->O: Opportunities	Disadvantages. ->T: Threats
The responsibility of consumers is increasing Promotion of the transition to a green and circular economy is vigorous	The current Romanian policy framework is difficult to navigate Overarching goals are not clear for all parties involved	Ambitious carbon emission reduction targets until 2030 and further on Clean technologies more readily available Attracting new investments to solve climate issues is possible	The resources needed will be more difficult to obtain Romania is still lagging behind many EU economies
Involvement of local and regional authorities through public consultations	Conflicting interests and targets of various stakeholders	Government must continuously adhere to European guidelines	Lack of international assistance and support as the economy develops
Existing national strategies for climate change mitigation Existing sectoral initiatives for decarbonization	Failure to comply with the proposed deadlines Insufficient financial resources Lack of more specialized or localized policy documents	EU has the most ambitious decarbonization process worldwide Structure of many European programs supports country-level deployment	Economic and social instability, concurrent crises Continuously evolving body of knowledge in the field
Multiple programs that support energy transition and efficiency, as well as electric/hybrid transport	Limited institutional capability to manage and monitor the program results	Alignment to EU average in economic and social terms	Legacy industries employ a significant number of people
Increase transparency in decision planning Assimilation of useful knowledge from academia	Poor communication and general awareness of the strategic directions	Increasing citizen and stakeholder engagement in strategic planning	Failure to comply with the requirements may lead to drastic penalties for Romania
Increasing the level of information of the population regarding the reduction of emissions Implementation of specific courses in the field of carbon emissions in schools	Considerable red tape and lack of digitalization at the moment In-depth topics related to decarbonization are not discussed	Support of the European Commission for skill development Sharing best practices with other countries involved	Climate change and industry transformation processes are complex and difficult to encompass in training
Dedicated long-term programs to train human resources Increasing overall competence in the economy	Lack of incentives for the involvement of the private sector in creating competences	Integration of Romanian universities in European alliances	Complex solution protection and deployment process
Elaboration of the National Smart Specialization Strategy	Failure to comply with commitments in financing RDI	Improving the regulatory environment Creating strong public-private partnerships	Failure to allocate sufficient funds or use them effectively

), three strategic documents identified within the scope were processed, using the same logical scheme, to reveal both problems and chances for favorable changes.

Once the first two levels of the SWOT-RS are complete, the analysis moves away from the policy region and into concrete organizational strategies. This section is based on the consultancy experience of the authors with more than 30 companies in the manufacturing industry in such sectors as automotive, machinery and plastics, which are specific to North-Western Romania, namely the Transylvania region.

4.1.3. SWOT-RS at Company Strategy Level

At the manufacturer’s level, we relied on the long-term planning know-how of a generic manufacturing company in the metalworking sector, defined as mentioned above (

Table 3. Level of subsystem (strategies of companies).

Present		Future
Advantages. -> S: Strengths	Disadvantages. ->W: Weaknesses	Advantages. ->O: Opportunities	Disadvantages. ->T: Threats
Implementation of modern environmental policies, standards and models	Insufficient qualified people Insufficient available know-how	Good capability for adaptation and development Increasing environmental awareness	Adaptation to the local culture can be difficult Competitive pressures in the global marketplace
Products with a low carbon footprint	Failure to understand the complex relations regarding carbon emissions along the lifecycle	New markets and customers that are environmentally conscious	Lack of cooperation with the public sector and the customers
Processes with a low carbon footprint	Failure to understand the steps to be taken to improve the processes Integration of environmental performance KPIs	Use in the change of the company brand image Correlation with CSR initiatives	Increased regulatory requirements and compliance costs
Ability to forecast environmental impact is increasing	Companies are unprepared in case of major crises	Emerging product-service systems that can gain market share	Poor environmental policies pose operational and financial risks
Modern equipment is both highly productive and environment-friendly The appearance of carbon footprint calculation software	Lack of resource efficiency in many situations Time needed to adopt and learn to use new technologies	Leveraging networks, associations and know-how hubs, including DIHs	Diminishing public financial support Decarbonization will become commonplace, not a differentiator
The emergence of advanced emission reduction technologies	Obsolete technology in companies that is still usable from an economic perspective	Industry 5.0 is emerging based on AI technologies and will apply to decarbonization	International competitors have advanced technologies compared to Romanian companies
Interest for professional development on this topic is high Emerging training programs for decarbonization	Demanding work environments with intense competition Little time to focus on environmental aspects	Exchange experience in various associative structures More external training courses (formal and informal)	Changing generations in the workforce Remote work can remain poorly integrated
Infrastructure and communication equipment under development and modernization	Insufficient digitalization of processes Carbon-intensive transport options reduce performance	Substantial funds allocated to the infrastructure and to company competitiveness development	Projects in the field have a slow pace and encounter many difficulties
Romania-based manufacturing companies are aligned with the requirements of the EU	Local environmental problems affect companies as well as people	The consumer market is large and diversified in Romania, accommodating low carbon options	External events and possible exposure to calamities

). However, we consider that similar interpretations can be given to other production domains or other sectors altogether, such as energy generation or the extractive industry.

To achieve the objective of net zero emissions, a concentrated and correlated effort is needed across the board, involving supranational organizations, states and industrial sectors. In the case described above (Table 1, Table 2 and Table 3), the analysis is performed on these three levels to determine the degree of interest and involvement for each of them, as well as to assess their coherence with each other. By navigating from European-level policies to national policies in Romania and to manufacturing approaches in the industrial production sector, using as blueprint the categories of analysis specific to SWOT-RS [40], it is possible to gauge both the strong suits and the vulnerabilities in the current policy landscape.

4.1.4. Integrated Analysis

Regarding all three levels combined, the emphasis is on the citizens who have a key role in achieving the goal of decarbonization and determining decision makers to intervene. At the European level, a significant aspect is the creation of links to support decarbonization through the exchange of good practices applied in each member country. At the national level, Romania’s strategies can help to create a healthy and clean environment with low emissions, but their deployment requires significant time to manage change, as well as resources to invest smartly in advanced technologies. The perspective of companies is one of competitiveness, having the desire to develop and survive, while reducing emissions with the help of new processes, new skills and new market approaches. The common situation to be revealed is a high-level ambition that is not easily translated into concrete projects and results, which is in line with other studies from Malaysia [43], the United States [44] and OECD countries [45].

Concerning the possible causes of this situation, we can hypothesize that the strategic documents have been elaborated with differing amounts of know-how and political will, and many of them lack interlocking feedback and monitoring mechanisms. Thus, the interventions we propose are focused on simplifying and aggregating the documents, eliminating redundancies, disseminating them to a larger stakeholder base and making sure that the institutional support for their implementation considers the particularities of communication among environmental players.

4.2. Analysis Using Tropes Zoom Tool

In the third part of the paper, the analysis of existing strategies focused on diminishing CO₂ is deepened from the perspective of the 5 main strategies at the European level, with 14 national strategies focused on reducing emissions, in 6 countries, Austria—3, Bosnia and Herzegovina—2, Croatia—5, Germany—2, Republic of Moldova—1, Serbia—3, and the previously analyzed specialized articles. The research is a continuation of the second thesis and is carried out with the help of the Tropes Zoom v. 8.4.2 tool. Tropes Zoom is latent semantic analysis software capable of parsing large amounts of text and identifying correlations according to certain themes. In this chapter, our interpretations are being developed from the perspective of content relationships, i.e., keywords that have semantic relationships indicating possible directions of interventions across the body of literature (what is being done) and the body of policies (what is being pursued). In the bubble graphs below, element position indicates the relationship level within the analyzed text, and element size indicates the frequency of occurrence, while in the star graph, one can see the order of precedence and the number of existing connections, as per the Tropes Zoom Reference Manual [46].

4.2.1. Analyses of Facilitating Measures

As shown in Figure 3, the most representative relation of climate interventions is with the managerial element of “plan/planning”, which tends to point towards the idea that the currently available documents do not definitively capture the urgency of the real and current climate crisis. Both strategies and activities need to quickly garner the support needed to move from the “should be” section to the “must be” section of governance.

The frequency of occurrence of a meaningful relationship between these keywords is counted by Tropes Zoom at 427 occurrences. The references on the left of the central relationship are identified as its predecessors, and those on the right are its successors, indicating a correct positioning in the governance process. However, the way in which these plans are carried out and followed up is not as clear and not prevalent.

In Figure 4, a quantitative graph shows that the most frequently used word was “scenario”, and for it, the most frequently used relation was with the word “measure”. In general, when we talk about emission reduction strategies, they are developed and can be implemented if specific measures are applied in different reference scenarios. While useful in nature, the optimistic approach that is revealed in this way can leave too much room for a wavering commitment to change and reduce carbon emissions in the manufacturing sector. Although they are difficult and costly, we consider it preferable to develop new business models and new technologies early and avoid a slow change attitude, where companies jump from scenario to scenario, usually not fulfilling them and finding excuses. If there is popular support and a proper policy net, by involving digitization, bureaucratization and creativity, new strategies could be developed that will lead to new green economic sectors, with high employment and little environmental impact.

By cross-analyzing the relationships described in Figure 3 and Figure 4, we can also visualize the connection between “policy” and “measures” (in Figure 5), thus reinforcing the connections identified by SWOT-RS. Carbon reduction policies spell out what needs to be done to have a climate-smart environment and what actions need to be taken in the face of today’s drastic climate change. Well-defined and carefully designed measures need to be implemented by companies in the production industry in order to conform to the goals of limiting and mitigating climate change.

4.2.2. Analysis of Planned Results

The following chart (Figure 6) highlights the importance of the relationship between “projections” and “emissions”. The positioning indicates that there are frequent relationships between the designated words and the other references. The reduction of carbon emissions achieved in reality must always be compared with the projections, and specific mechanisms should be developed for this when implementing industrial projects. This should involve dedicated equipment to measure results and to determine both the performance of companies and their processes and the need to improve the mathematical and physical models that form the basis of assumptions on which the production sector operates, as it is focused on being competitive.

The results obtained with Tropes Zoom and SWOT-RS were used to inform a brainstorming session of the six authors to develop action proposals to support manufacturing companies in their pursuit of a sustainable low-carbon production model starting from the main support measures. This is further presented in the Conclusions section as the final point of our demarche to support the understanding of the current positioning of manufacturing companies within the low-carbon sustainable production paradigm, as well as to elaborate proposals for creating better policies in the future, mostly at the national level but with possible adaptation to the European or sectoral dimensions.

5. Conclusions

After carrying out the above studies, we can conclude that reducing carbon emissions is well integrated into the analyzed body of regulations. There is a high interest in remedying detrimental environmental situations, and measures are being implemented to this end. We also determined that there is a significant gap in time and preoccupations to monitor the results of such proposals, at least until new strategies are developed. Without being involved in their development and deployment, it is hard to appreciate if this is by design or if it is a side effect of the current institutional architecture that relies on scientists, politicians, managers and engineers to go from climate change to meaningful action. However, it is critical to quickly compound the existing results and expand them in such a way that future strategies are more streamlined, focused on the issues of decarbonization and have shorter update cycles. This should hold true, no matter the scope of the strategies, and it seems to be critical in reconnecting the new generations to the actions of environmental leadership.

The brainstorming was carried out for a period of 90 min, having in front of us the printed figures and tables above with the following stated goal: “Propose a set of minimum 5 concrete measures to implemented in future national strategies for production companies to achieve SLCP more effectively”. An unresolved issue remains public awareness and participation, which needs more involvement from authorities at both the regional and national levels. This can be achieved by refurbishing the ways in which schools and universities address the relationship between the competences they develop and the climate impact of their future graduates while they are carrying out their jobs. Other possible measures to discuss in this direction are the climate labeling of products and services (e.g., as it happens in the automotive industry now) and the support that can be given to environmental NGOs as they develop awareness through unconventional means. Involvement in these topics also requires intervention at the company level, with manufacturing firms needing to pay attention to their customers and markets, as they are as concerned with the environment as their employees.

To achieve the proposed objective, the creation of a strong ecosystem of new alliances is a decisive factor, but we also need to maintain existing alliances. Climate change can be considered one of the “grand challenges” of our time, and achieving low-carbon sustainable production will contribute to addressing it, in parallel with the other CO₂-intensive domains. For this to happen, it is necessary to involve political actors, together with academia and professional manufacturing associations, thus helping to create high acceptability of the intense changes anticipated. Another critical partnership must be established between companies and the markets they serve, especially in the case of the final beneficiaries of manufactured products, who have the power to impose the transformation of the businesses they rely on by clearly articulating their preferences for low-carbon solutions across the entire lifecycle.

The implications of the study presented can be detailed in the following directions:

• For policymakers: the conclusions of the investigation have the potential to help in drafting new and improved versions of the documents that have an increased chance to be accepted and applied by the companies operating in the manufacturing sector due to the better correlation of intentions and possibilities in the field;
• For companies: the findings enable businesses in the production sector to follow more concrete goals with higher effectiveness and with less uncertainty and confusion about maintaining an adequate strategic direction, in line with societal expectations;
• For researchers: the methodological approach proposed can represent a more grounded way of approaching the topic of policy research, which is inherently elusive, while the results can form the basis of future empiric studies;
• For the sustainable development movement: the involvement of manufacturers in a prominent capacity can potentially empower the attainment of the goals of UN’s Agenda 2030, especially goal 9—Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, goal 12—Responsible Consumption and Production and goal 13—Climate Action as mentioned by [47].

Among the limitations of our study, we must mention the fact that a complete analysis should also consider strategies and results from other continents, as carbon dioxide is a global problem, and the restricted connection made with the energy sector that determines what happens to production companies. As for future directions to be investigated, we intend to detail more possible solutions coming from implementing the circular economy paradigm (mainly the reuse of production waste), as well as financial and fiscal measures that can be integrated into strategic documents (e.g., incentives for SLCP or overcharging for environmental damage).