Celebrating a Big Year for Industrial Decarbonization in Sri Lanka

2025 was an ambitious year for the EU-funded Accelerating Industries’ Climate Response in Sri Lanka project with milestones achieved in training, data, decarbonization commitments and more as we continued to support Sri Lanka’s efforts to reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Here are some of our most memorable 2025 moments.

Sri Lanka’s cadre of skilled energy and decarbonization experts grew stronger

Sri Lanka’s industrial decarbonization efforts rely on skilled professionals in government and industry who can identify opportunities, implement solutions and track progress. In 2025, the project’s training efforts continued to gain momentum with more than 522 professionals (including from SMEs) undertaking training across a range of topics from energy efficiency, to systems optimization and emissions accounting.

Our biggest training year yet kicked-off in January with a new cohort of 52 professionals starting UNIDO’s ISO 50001-aligned Energy Management Systems (EnMS) course. Later in the year, they joined more than 200 industry, government and international stakeholders at Sri Lanka’s first EnMS Forum, designed to review progress and strengthen collaboration. The inaugural event also celebrated what has been achieved so far. Since the EnMS training started in 2022, participating companies have cut an estimated 12.8 million kilograms of CO₂ equivalent to taking around 3,000 cars off the road for a year–and reduced annual energy use by 29.2 million kWh, enough to power roughly 26,000 middle class homes in Sri Lanka, for a year. That momentum continues in 2026, with another batch of new trainees starting their training soon.

More ambitious industrial decarbonization commitments were made

The project played a significant role throughout 2025 in helping Sri Lanka raise the ambition of its industrial emissions reduction target from 7 to 13 per cent in its latest Nationally Determined Contribution(NDC 3.0). This important international climate committment document now charts the course for fostering thriving industries powered by low-carbon technologies. We worked closely with the Ministry of Environment, and the Ministry of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development to elaborate the industrial sector component of the NDC 3.0, while also identifying viable mitigation measures and pathways.

At the same time, success in making progress towards, and reporting on, the new climate commitments will rely on a robust monitoring, reporting and verification system (MRV) for industry. Such a system is critical if decision makers are to understand GHG sources and trends as well as design strategies and make informed decisions. 2025 saw significant milestones in establishing such a system. Over several years, this work has involved technical support to design and implement the MRV framework, helping to integrate emissions data from industries into national reporting systems.

The flow of industrial emissions data was strengthened

As part of this critical emissions data effort, in 2025, we also worked with Sri Lanka’s Central Environmental Authority (CEA) to strengthen the Environmental Protection License (EPL) system. The EPL is a key source of data on industrial greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation actions. We supported upgrades to the existing manual system and are now moving ahead with CEA to develop an online EPL platform, aimed at modernizing data collection and reporting. This work was designed to ensure that facility-level emissions information captured through the licensing process could feed into the broader MRV system.

The year also saw us work with the Ministry of Environment (MoE) to relaunch the National Green Reporting System (NGRS) following a multi-year revitalization process. UNIDO experts supported the alignment of the NGRS with international benchmarks such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, while building ministry staff capacity and engaging government, industry, and civil society stakeholders. The updated NGRS aims to provide consistent, economy-wide environmental data to guide policymaking, support sustainable business practices, and strengthen Sri Lanka’s climate and environmental commitments.

Support to help unlock finance was expanded

Affordable finance, loans and incentives are urgently needed in Sri Lanka if businesses are to confidently invest in moving away from fossil-fuels. At the same time, potential investors need a better understanding of decarbonization. These were key findings of an assessment of the current industrial decarbonization financing situation undertaken by the project earlier. Acting on these findings in 2025, we expanded our specialized training programme focused on helping industrialists to develop bankable business proposals. Meanwhile, a second training programme focused on enabling investors to evaluate funding proposals. As part of this effort, bankable investment proposals for energy efficiency, system optimization and emission reduction were initiated.

Meanwhile, to share ideas and raise wider awareness about how to unlock finance for decarbonization efforts focused on energy efficiency measures, the project launched a ‘how-to-guide’ for industry leaders.

We brought stakeholders together and showcased impact

As the industrial energy transition in Sri Lanka needs all hands on deck, our goal has always been to involve a diverse range of stakeholders, which includes creating space for dialogue through events. 2025 saw our third Industry Dialogue bring together more than 150 key players from across government, industry, civil society and the international community. Zeroing in on key issues such as unlocking finance, capacity building and data, participants discussed the industrial sector’s growing role in meeting national climate response targets.

Meanwhile, our efforts to collect and share best practices through stories as well as our Energy Savers and First Movers campaigns continued to be a source of inspiration, demonstrating that decarbonization is possible and is happening.

2025 marked our project’s third year of operation during which time our efforts across training, technical support and other interventions have resulted in 12,832 tonnes of CO2 emissions being avoided, and 29,198,224 kWh of energy being saved. The terrible cyclone that struck Sri Lanka in November 2025 highlighted the urgent need to redobule our efforts as we support Sri Lanka’s industrial sector to further mitigate its emissions and adapt to a changing climate in 2026.